


Year One

by MagicalStarling



Series: The Next Marauders [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 12:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9234746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalStarling/pseuds/MagicalStarling
Summary: What if Harry Potter had more than two friends? What if Draco Malfoy had apologized to Harry and sat with him on the train and they were still joined by Ron, Hermione and also Neville and they were joined by an animal loving Hufflepuff named Rolf Scamander.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, this is my first time posting any of my work. I'm hoping to update it as often as possible. I'm currently on break so hopefully I'll be able to do a lot of posting. All characters and story ideas come from J.K. Rowling and do not belong to me.

Chapter One

Harry Potter had lived at Four Privet Drive with the Dursleys for the majority of his life, ever since he was dropped off at his aunt and uncle’s doorstep when he was an infant. And everyday since his aunt and uncle had worked hard to make it clear that Harry was an unwanted burden. Harry was put to work, cleaning the house, weeding the garden and cooking meals. His room was a small, cramped cupboard underneath the stairs that used to hold boots. 

Harry was treated this way for the simple reason that he was different, and the Dursleys hated everything that was different. They were a normal family, as normal as normal could be, a fact that they were very proud of. 

But Petunia Dursley nee Evans had a secret; her sister, Lily, was a witch. Petunia had grown to hate Lily and her ‘freakishness.’ For years the sisters had little to no contact. Petunia had a normal life, married her husband, Vernon Dursley, and together they had a son, Dudley, who could do no wrong in the eyes of his parents. 

Lily Evans led a much more extraordinary life, full of magic. At the age of eleven she received her letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the best school of magic in all of Britain. There she met James Potter, her future husband. 

James and Lily Potter did everything young. 

Lily, who was as clever as any child could be, spoke her first word at just seven months. James, who was a different sort of clever, had learned to talk back by the time he was one. Lily was riding her bike without training wheels before she turned four and James was riding a broom long before he could walk. At the age of five Lily won her first award; that same year James broke his first bone. She had mastered all the charms in her fourth and fifth year books before she was thirteen, and he had scored more goals on the Quidditch pitch than any second year in recorded history. In their fifth year, Lily was made Prefect and James captain of the Quidditch team. In their seventh year they were head boy and girl. James fell in love at fifteen, Lily at seventeen. They were married at nineteen and Lily gave birth to their first child; a beautiful baby boy with his father’s hair and his mother’s eyes, at the age of twenty. 

James and Lily Potter did everything young.

And so it was that, in spite of everything they had done and everything they could have done, death came for them young, as well.     

On 31 October, 1981, when Harry was one, while everyone else celebrated, death entered the Potter household. A dark lord had made his way to Godric’s Hollow. James died first; cut down in his living room trying to defend his family, yelling for his young wife to take their son and run. Lily died in the nursery; arms stretched towards the crib that held her precious Harry. Her last act was to beg for her son’s life; to offer her life for his. 

But Lily’s words went ignored; for before her body had even hit the floor, the dark lord’s wand was pointed at the last Potter. The dark lord stood over the infant Harry Potter and uttered the same curse that had just killed his parents. The nursery was bathed in green light for the second time that night. But little Harry didn’t die. Instead the dark lord was blasted from the nursery; the dark lord who had terrified the wizarding world for years, killed by a mere babe. The only sign of the attempt on Harry’s life being the lightening shaped scar on his forehead.   

The wizarding world celebrated the death of the dark lord and declared Harry as their savior; ‘the boy-who-lived.’ But even as the wizarding world celebrated Harry’s triumph, very few bothered to think of the newly orphaned boy’s fate.

As the world of magic celebrated; those not of magic carried on as though nothing extraordinary had just occurred. The Dursleys’ morning started the same as any other. Vernon Dursley prepared for work, straightening his bland tie over his large stomach. Dudley was in his highchair, throwing another tantrum. He was one years old and already a spoiled child. Petunia went to get the paper when she saw  _ it _ .  

Lying on the front step was a small bundle with a letter, and in the bundle was Harry Potter, who received a rather rude awakening when his aunt began screaming. 

Close to ten years later Harry Potter had spent his life treated as a freak, like the Dursley’s servant rather than nephew and cousin. He knew nothing of his parents and their bravery or how he was a hero in the wizarding world. In fact, Harry knew nothing of the wizarding world. Harry didn’t know about the existence of magic or his own status as a wizard. He knew none of this until the half-giant Hagrid broke down the door of the cottage they had been staying in in order to deliver Harry’s Hogwarts acceptance letter in person. It was the best birthday Harry had ever had.  

Hagrid told Harry about magic and Hogwarts and how Harry would go there to learn magic just like his parents. He told him about his parents and their bravery and how they stood up against the dark lord. Lord Voldemort, who was considered to be one of the darkest wizards in history, so dark that wizards refused to say his name, instead calling him ‘You-Know-Who’ or ‘He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.’ And how Harry had defeated Voldemort and his subsequent fame. 

He brought him to wizarding world, to Diagon Alley, to buy his school supplies. Diagon Alley was a brightly lit street filled with colorful shops. The shops in Diagon Alley weren’t ordinary shops, at least they weren’t ordinary to Harry. Shops selling parchment and quills, stood next to shops selling owls, potion ingredients, flying brooms and robes. The street was filled with brightly dressed people in clothes as strange as the shops around them. People wore wizarding robes in various styles and Harry noticed several pointed hats. Harry thought it was amazing. 

With Hagrid by his side Harry was able to cut through the bustling crowd easily. They had gone to the wizarding bank Gringotts first to collect money from Harry’s vault for his school supplies. After being brought to the vault by one of the goblins who helped run the bank, Harry had been astonished to discover the large fortune that his parents had left him. Never before had he held so much money. 

Now Harry was entering Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions to buy his school robes. He was alone; Hagrid had left him to get a drink at the Leaky Cauldron to calm his stomach after the cart ride to the vaults in Gringotts. Harry was feeling a little nervous as he entered the shop alone. 

A squat woman rushed over to him when he entered the shop. She appeared to be in a hurry, but she smiled brightly at him.

“Hogwarts, dear?” she asked, before Harry had a chance to say anything. “Got the lot here-another young man being fitted up just now, in fact.”

Harry was led to the back of the shop where a boy with pale blond hair was standing on a stool as a witch pinned up his black robes. Madam Malkin directed Harry to stand on the stool next to him then slipped a long robe over his head and began pinning it. 

“Hello,” said the boy, “Hogwarts, too?”

“Yes,” said Harry.

The boy continued to talk to Harry, going on about Quidditch, though Harry had no idea what Quidditch was, but apparently the boy loved it. Then the boy changed to the topic of houses, which Harry also had no clue about.

“Know what house you’ll be in yet?” The boy asked.

“No,” said Harry, starting to get annoyed with his own ignorance. 

“Well, no one really  _ knows _ until they get there, do they, but I know I’ll be in Slytherin, all our family have been-imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?”

“Mmm,” said Harry, wishing he had more to contribute to the conversation. 

At that moment Hagrid appeared in the shop window holding two ice creams in his large hands, a huge grin on his face.

“I say, look at that man!” cried the boy when he spotted Hagrid.

“That’s Hagrid,” said Harry, glad to finally know something the boy didn’t know. “He works at Hogwarts.” 

“Oh,” said the boy, “I’ve heard of him. He’s a sort of servant, isn’t he?”

“He’s the gamekeeper,” corrected Harry. He was starting to dislike the boy more and more. 

“Yes, exactly. I heard he’s a sort of  _ savage _ -lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed.” 

“I think he’s brilliant,” said Harry, his voice turning cold. 

“ _ Do _ you?” said the boy, with a slight sneer. “Why is he with you? Where are your parents?”

“They’re dead,” said Harry shortly. He didn’t want to discuss this with the rude boy.

“Oh, sorry,” said the boy, though Harry didn’t think he sounded very sorry. “But they were  _ our _ kind, weren’t they?”

“They were a witch and wizard, if that’s what you mean.” 

“I really don’t think they should let the other sort in, do you? They’re just not the same, they’ve never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. And did you hear, Harry Potter is going to be at Hogwarts this year. What do you think he’s like? My godfather, Severus, he’s the potions master at Hogwarts, he knew his father, real Gryffindor pratt he was. I bet he’ll be just like him.”

Madam Malkin then informed Harry that he was finished and Harry gratefully jumped off the stool, glad to get away from the boy.

The boy turned towards Harry after he finished paying for his robes and extended his hand.

“My name is Draco Malfoy.”

Harry glanced at the hand, but didn’t take it, instead he allowed his mouth to curve up into a half grin. 

“Harry Potter, I guess I’ll be seeing you at Hogwarts,” he then walked out of the shop leaving the flabbergasted boy behind, his mouth gaping. 

 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Harry spent the remainder of his time in Diagon Alley buying the rest of his school supplies. He bought a wand at Ollivander's; Ollivander had freaked him out a little, staring at him and muttering about how peculiar his wand was. His wand, eleven inches, holly with a phoenix feather core, which coincidentally ended up being the brother wand of Voldemort. 

Harry was also given the best birthday gift he ever received; a snowy white owl named Hedwig, from Hagrid. 

Harry was reluctant to go back to the Dursleys, but knowing that he would be going to Hogwarts in a month made it somewhat easier. And it turned out to be one of the best months he had spent with the Dursleys, since the family seemed determined to pretend Harry didn’t exist. Dudley was now terrified of Harry, since Hagrid had given him a curly pigtail when they had met. Dudley was forced to go to a private clinic, that said it was an out of control wart, to have it removed. Every time Harry entered a room Dudley was in, Dudley would immediately leave, clutching his large bottom protectively. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn’t send him to his cupboard or make him do any chores. Instead Harry was left to his own devices. He spent his time lazing about in the garden and looking through his new books on magic.    

Before Harry knew it it was September first and Uncle Vernon was dropping Harry off at King’s Cross station. Vernon didn’t acknowledge his nephew as he got out of the car with his trunk and Hedwig’s cage. There had been no tearful goodbyes that morning at the Dursleys’ house, not even a muttered ‘good riddance,’ to acknowledge the fact that Harry would be gone for close to an entire year.

Harry was able to get onto the train platform at nine and three-quarters with the help of a family of red heads. He had run at the solid looking column despite feeling like an idiot, and luckily did not run headfirst into a brick wall, but instead had gone through it. Now standing on the platform he couldn’t stop the grin that broke out on his face at the sight of the old-fashioned scarlet steam engine. 

The platform was crowded with families saying goodbye and Harry felt a brief pang of longing, but he quickly pushed it aside and made his way towards the train. He was about to board the train when he caught sight of blond hair. 

It was the boy from Madam Malkin's, Draco Malfoy, and two people who could only be his parents. They were both blonde and wore very fine robes. They stood with what was almost a regal air about them. Harry was about to turn away when Draco glanced over and saw him. Before Harry knew what to do Draco stood in front of him, his parents trailing behind, their faces blank of emotions. 

“Harry Potter,” Draco spoke it like a statement, his head held high, but there was a sheepishness about him that he couldn’t quite hide, “I wanted to apologize for what I said at Madam Malkin's, I realize what I said may have offended you, and I’m sorry.” 

Draco held his hand out towards Harry again, but this time Harry took it after a moment. Draco couldn’t stop the wide grin from spreading across his face. Behind him Draco’s father watched the two boys greedily, already imagining how he could use the situation to his advantage. His wife gave him a not so gentle nudge sending him a glare; she knew exactly what he was thinking and she wasn’t about to let him ruin what may turn into a wonderful friendship for her Draco. 

Draco introduced Harry to his parents, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Lucius seemed rather cold, but Narcissa smiled at Harry in a way that he could only describe as motherly and suggested that the boys get a compartment together on the train. 

The two agreed and after Draco finished saying goodbye the two boarded the train and managed to find an empty compartment near the back. They stowed their trunks above their heads and sat across from each other. Harry was feeling a little unsure about accepting Draco’s apology so easily, but he was also grateful not to be alone, and the boy’s apology had seemed sincere enough. 

Draco leaned back into the bench trying and failing to look relaxed. A moment of silence went by before he spoke.

“I really am sorry about what I said about, um, Hagrid, and your dad.”

“Well, I’ll try not to be too much of a pratt,” replied Harry.

Draco stared at Harry for a moment before he burst out laughing and grinned at Harry, the tension broken. Harry grinned back at him.

The two were interrupted by the opening of the compartment door. One of the red headed boys stuck his head inside. 

“Can I sit with you?” he asked. “Everywhere else is full.”

Draco opened his mouth as if to protest, but before he could say anything Harry invited the boy to sit next to him. The redhead smiled gratefully, stowing his trunk before sitting. Draco stared at him for a moment before snapping his mouth closed.

“I’m Ron Weasley,” said the boy.

“Harry Potter,” Harry replied, “and this is Draco Malfoy.” 

Ron’s eyes widened at Harry’s name, before he glanced away as if realizing that he was staring. But he glanced back a moment later as if unable to look away.

“So, ah, have you really got-you know…”

He pointed at Harry’s forehead.

“Don’t be rude!” cried Draco, though there was more curiosity in his voice than venom and he was eyeing Harry’s forehead curiously.  

Ron glanced away again, blushing slightly.

“It’s fine,” said Harry with a small smile. He pulled back his dark unruly bangs to reveal the lightning shaped scar. Ron openly stared and Draco leaned forward in his seat to get a closer look.

“So that’s where You-Know-who-?” 

“Yes,” said Harry, “but I can’t remember it?”

“Nothing?” asked Ron eagerly.

“All I remember is a green light, but that’s all.” 

Draco nodded at this.

“That would be the killing curse.”

“Wow,” said Ron. 

“You're staring at him,” informed Draco, despite the fact that he was doing the same. Ron quickly looked away, sending a glare at Draco.

“So were you…” he muttered, which caused Draco to blush slightly and look away. 

“It’s fine,” Harry assured the boys, smoothing his bangs back into place. 

“Is it true that you lived with muggles?” Asked Ron.

Harry nodded.

“What were they like?”

“Horrible,” he replied, “or at least my aunt and uncle and cousin are, not all muggles are horrible.” 

“Why were living with muggles?” asked Draco, “The Potters are a pureblood family and you’re a wizard, you should have been raised with wizards!”

Harry shrugged.

“I was told that they’re my only living relatives.”

Draco frowned at this.

“That’s not entirely true, were actually distantly related.”

“Really?” asked Harry, “How?”

Draco nodded.

“It’s pretty distant, and it's through marriage,” said Draco, “but I’ve studied my family tree. We share great-grandparents so we’re technically very distant cousins. Charles Potter, your grandfather, married Dorea Black, my great-great-aunt through marriage. If you look hard enough most pureblood families are related in some way.” 

“So,” started Harry, “is everyone in your families wizards?”

“Of course,” replied Draco, looking smug, “the Malfoy family is an ancient and powerful pureblood family. We haven’t turned are back on the old ways of magic, unlike some families.” 

Ron looked at Draco for a moment before turning back to Harry.

“I think my mom has a second cousin who is an accountant, but we don’t talk about him.” 

“How many siblings do you have?” Harry asked Ron, remembering the large group of redheads he had seen on the platform.

I’m one of seven. I’m the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts, so I have a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left. Bill was head boy and Charlie was the captain of the Quidditch team when they were at Hogwarts. Now Percy’s a prefect. Fred and George, they’re twins, they mess around a lot, but they somehow still manage to get good marks, plus everyone thinks they’re really funny. So everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but even if I do, it won’t really matter since they did it first.”

“I’m glad I’m an only child,” commented Draco.

“And everything I get is secondhand. Bill’s robes, Charlie’s wand, and Percy’s rat.”

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a fat gray rat that appeared to be sleeping. 

“This is Scabbers. He’s completely useless, all he does is sleep. Dad gave Percy an owl for being made a prefect, but they couldn’t aff-I mean, I ended up with Scabbers.”

Ron’s ears had turned pink and he went back to staring out the window as if he thought he had said too much. 

Harry, who up until recently had had no money, though there was no shame in not being able to afford an owl. He told Ron about how he had to wear Dudley’s old clothes and had never gotten any proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up, but Draco was frowning.

“I didn’t even know that I was a wizard until Hagrid showed up. I knew nothing about magic, my parents, or Voldemort-”

Ron gasped and Draco’s eyes widened.

“What?” said Harry.

“You said his name! You-Know-Who’s name!” He sounded shocked and impressed.

“Well what would you expect from the wizard who defeated him as an infant,” said Draco. 

“I’m not doing it to be brave!” cried Harry, “I never knew that I shouldn’t say his name. I know next to nothing about the wizarding world. I have loads to learn.” 

This had been worrying him a lot.

“I bet I’ll be the worst in the class.”

“No, you won’t be,” said Ron, “There are loads of muggleborns who know nothing about the wizarding world before they get their letters and they do fine.”

“You’ll do fine,” chimed in Draco, “because I’m going to help teach you. You’ve been deprived of the proper pureblood education you should have received if you had been placed with a proper wizarding family. So it’s my duty to catch you up.” 

Harry gave Draco a small, but grateful smile.

Harry noticed then that the train had begun moving while they were talking and they had left London. They watched the fields move past the windows for a little while in silence.

At half past twelve there was a clatter in the corridor and the door to their compartment opened. A slightly dumpy woman pushing a cart full of sweets asked them if they wanted anything off the trolley. 

Harry got to his feet eagerly, he hadn’t had any breakfast and was hungry. Plus he had never had the money for sweets before and was eager to try some. Ron’s ears went pink again and he muttered something about a sandwich.

Draco, who had also stood up with Harry, pulled out a handful of silver coins and bought three of everything, telling Harry that he could have whatever he wanted. Harry helped him bring the sweets into the cart and piled them on the seat next to Draco. 

Draco handed Harry a pumpkin pasty and took one for himself. He held up the third one towards Ron who had taken out a lumpy package.

“I’m good, I got a sandwich,” he said unwrapping the package, “Corned beef. She always forgets I don’t like corned beef.” 

“Then don’t eat it,” said Draco, “Eat the pasty.” He practically forced the pasty into Ron’s hands. Ron stared at it for a moment then up at Draco. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but changed his mind and began eating the pasty instead. 

“What are those?” asked Harry pointing to a pack of Chocolate Frogs, “They’re not really frogs right?”

“No,” replied Draco, “they’re chocolate. Try one.”

Harry opened the pack and bit into the delicious chocolate. 

“What card did you get?” asked Ron, “I need Agrippa.”

“What?”

“Check the package,” said Draco, “each pack comes with a collectible wizard card.” 

Harry pulled out a card with a picture of an aging wizard with long white hair, a long white beard and half-moon glasses perched on a crooked nose. The card said he was Albus Dumbledore, the current headmaster of Hogwarts. 

“So this is Dumbledore,” Harry commented to himself. 

“Don’t tell me you haven't heard of Albus Dumbledore!” said Ron, “Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa.” Draco tossed Ron a frog.

Harry turned the card over and read about Dumbledore, when he turned the card over Dumbledore was gone. He told Ron and Draco this and Draco began telling him about how wizarding photos moved.

The boys passed the time talking and eating the sweets. Harry had asked Draco about Quidditch and Draco was more than happy to tell Harry about the game with Ron joining in. They were both talking about their favorite teams when the compartment was once again opened, this time by a girl with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She was already wearing her Hogwarts robes. Behind her stood a nervous looking boy.

“Has anyone seen a toad? Neville’s lost one,” she said, Harry thought she sounded bossy. 

“No,” said Harry.

“Find one of the prefects,” said Draco, “they can summon it.”

The girl thanked Draco and left with the nervous looking boy trailing behind her. 

The boys resumed talking and soon the topic of magic came up.

“I’ve been practicing with my wand since I got it,” said Draco.

“My brothers, Fred and George, told me a spell to turn Scabbers yellow, but it didn’t work. I don’t know if they were lying to me or if I did it wrong.”

“Well let’s see it,” said Draco.

Ron pulled out his wand and pointed at Scabbers who was still sleeping. At that moment the same girl and the boy from before opened the compartment door again. Harry saw that the boy was now clutching a squirming toad. 

“I wanted to let you know that we found Neville’s toad,” said the girl, she looked at Draco, “thanks for the advice.”

She turned to leave when her eyes landed on Ron’s wand.

“Oh, you’re doing magic?”

She walked into the compartment and sat down next Draco, who looked surprised by her presence. After a small hesitation the boy followed her in and Harry moved over to make room for him on the bench. 

Ron cleared his throat.

_ “Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, _

_ Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.” _

He waved his wand, but nothing happend, Scabbers didn’t even wake up. 

“Are you sure that’s a real spell?” asked the girl. 

“Yeah,” said Draco, “I think your brothers lied to you.”

“I’ve been practicing a few simple spells,” said the girl, “so far it’s worked for me. Nobody in my family has magic, so it was a surprise when I got the letter, but I was very pleased of course. I’ve already learned all our course books, I hope it will be enough. I’m Hermione Granger by the way.”

Harry, who had not learned all his course books by heart, was glad to see the stunned looks on the other boys’ faces. 

“I’m Ron Weasley,” muttered Ron.

“Draco Malfoy,” said Draco, still eyeing the girl.

“Harry Potter,” said Harry, “He turned to the boy next to him, “What’s your name?”

“Neville Longbottom,” answered the boy.

“Are you really Harry Potter?” Asked Hermione, “I read all about you in  _ Modern Magical History  _ and  _ The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _ and  _ Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century _ .” 

“Really?” asked Harry, feeling dazed.

“Of course,” said Hermione, “Do any of you know what house you’ll be sorted into? I’ve read about all the houses and I’d like to be in Gryffindor.”

“Really?” asked Draco.

Hermione frowned at him.

“Yes, why?”

“Well, I would have guessed Ravenclaw with all the reading.”

“Oh, I guess Ravenclaw wouldn’t be bad, but I would rather be in Gryffindor.”

“But, why? It sounds to me like Ravenclaw would be a good house for you.”

Hermione glanced away from Draco.

“I want to be brave.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at this.

“Bravery isn’t reserved for just Gryffindors.”

Hermione gave a small shrug before looking back at the group.

“What about you guys?”

“I’ll be in Slytherin, every Malfoy is,” said Draco.

“That’s the house Vol- I mean You-Know-Who was in, wasn’t it?” asked Harry. 

“Yeah,” said Ron, leaning back in his seat, “all dark wizards are in Slytherin.” 

Draco rolled his eyes. 

“Of course you would believe that, you’re a Weasley, a light family,” said Draco, “bad wizards can come from any house, not just Slytherin. You-Know-Who has given Slytherin a bad name. The self proclaimed light families are more than willing to forget about any dark wizards that came out of other houses.”

There was a long moment where no one said anything before Harry broke the silence, turning towards Ron.

“What houses are your brothers in?” asked Harry.

“They’re all in Gryffindor,” said Ron, “So were my parents. I don’t know what they’d say if I’m not.”

“My parents were also in Gryffindor,” said Neville, speaking up for the first time, “but I don’t think I’m brave enough to be put in Gryffindor, I’ll probably end up in Hufflepuff.”

“I think all the houses have good traits,” said Harry, “but I think I’d like to be in Gryffindor since that was my parents’ house.” 

Draco opened his mouth to comment when suddenly Neville cried “Trevor!” and his toad jumped out of his hands and went flying towards Draco who let out a high pitch squeal of surprise and terror. Despite Draco’s shock he still managed to reach out and group the toad before it attempted to escape again. 

Draco stared at the toad in his hands with a shocked look before Harry burst out laughing. The others joined in and after a few seconds, so did Draco, a slight pink tinge to his face.

Hermione and Harry managed to cobble together a makeshift cage for Trevor out of discarded cardboard from the sweets and they placed it and Trevor in the middle of the compartment so that everyone could keep an eye on the toad.

The group chatted for a little longer and ate their sweets before Hermione commented that the boys should change into their school robes. She left the compartment so they could change and Harry could feel the train beginning to slow down. They put the sweets in their bags and joined Hermione and the rest of the students leaving the train. On the platform Harry saw Hagrid, he was holding a lantern and yelling for first years to follow him. 

The first years followed Hagrid to the shore of a lake where they were told to get into boats. The four boys got into one boat and Hermione got into the next one. As the boats moved out Harry got his first sight of Hogwarts and gasped in amazement. Perched on top of a mountain, the great castle’s lights seemed to sparkle in the night sky. The boats glided across the water until they reached a cliff and went through a curtain of ivy into a passage carved into the rock. Trevor jumped out of Neville’s hands again and the boys spent a moment reaching around the bottom of the boat until they found the toad. 

Hagrid led them up a flight of stone stairs and into an enormous entranceway in front of a large set of oak doors. A tall witch with dark hair pulled back into a severe bun in emerald robes was waiting for them. 

“The first years for you Professor McGonagall,” said Hagrid. 

“Thank you Hagrid, I’ll take them from here.”

The first years huddled together nervously as they walked forward to stand in front of Professor McGonagall. 

“Welcome to Hogwarts,” greeted Professor McGonagall, “the welcome feast will begin shortly, but before we begin you will be sorted into your houses. The sorting process is very important for while you are here at Hogwarts your house will act as your family. You will have classes with your housemates, sleep in the same dorms and share a common room. There are four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You should be proud of whichever house you are placed in for each has an ancient and proud history and have each produced great witches and wizards. Your good deeds will earn you house points, while your bad deeds will cause you to lose them. At the end of the year whichever house has the most points wins the House Cup. This is a great honor, so I suggest that you each remain on good behavior and make your house proud. 

“The shorting ceremony will begin shortly, I will be back to collect you then. Please wait quietly.”

She walked out of the entrance hall leaving the group alone.

“Are you guys nervous?” asked Hermione. Though she addressed the group her eyes lingered on Neville who was looking rather pale. 

“I already know that I’ll be in Slytherin,” said Draco, put there was note of nervousness in his voice.

Harry thought about his parents and wondered if they had been nervous before their sorting. Looking around Harry saw that the other kids also looked nervous about the upcoming sorting.

“How do we get sorted?” asked Harry, suddenly realizing he didn’t know.

“My brothers told me that it’s some sort of test,” said Ron.

Harry could feel his heart start to race, a test? What kind of test? No wonder everyone looked so nervous. 

Draco and Hermione both raised an eyebrow at this and Neville got even paler.

“Are these the same brothers that told you that spell?” asked Draco.

“It’s not a test,” started Hermione, but she was interrupted by the appearance of a large group of transparent people streaming through the wall. It took Harry’s brain a second to realize that what he was seeing were ghosts. They glowed a pearly white and glided across the floor. As they got closer Harry realized that they appeared to be arguing. 

While the first years were staring at the ghosts none of them noticed Professor McGonagall return.

“First years come with me,” called Professor McGonagall, instantly gaining everyone’s attention.

The first years formed a line behind the professor and they followed her through the double doors into the Great Hall. 

Harry’s legs felt as though they had turned to lead as he walked forward, but fear was momentarily forgotten at the sight of the Great Hall. The room was huge with thousands of candles floating in the air above four long tables that the rest of the students were sitting at. Harry could see by the colors of their robes that they sat by house with Gryffindor to his right, then Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw and then Slytherin. Glittering gold plates and goblets were on the tables glittering in the candlelight. At the front of the room was another long table where the teachers sat. But the most amazing part of the room was the ceiling, for it looked like the night sky. Stars glittered and wispy clouds moved across it. For a second Harry wondered if there even was a ceiling.

“It's enchanted to look like the current sky,” Hermione whispered behind him, “I read about it in  _ Hogwarts, A History _ .” 

“You are definitely a Ravenclaw,” Draco whispered back. 

Professor McGonagall led the first years to the front of the room to stand in front of the professor’s table. Sitting at the center of the table was Albus Dumbledore, Harry recognized him from his Chocolate Frog collectible card. Harry also recognized the defense against the dark arts professor, Professor Quirrell. Harry had met the professor at the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. The man wore a large turban that smelled of garlic and had a bad stutter. 

Draco nudged his shoulder and indicated the man next to Quirrel.

“That’s my godfather,” he whispered.

The teacher was thin and dressed all in black. He had greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. 

Harry watched as Professor McGonagall placed a stool in front of the table. On top of the stool was an old, frayed pointed wizard’s hat. Harry stared at the hat in confusion when suddenly the hat moved. It was a small twitch like motion; a rip near the brim opened, and then the hat began to sing.

_ “Oh, you may not think I’m pretty, _

_ But don’t judge on what you see, _

_ I’ll eat myself if you can find _

_ A smarter hat than me. _

_ You can keep your bowlers black, _

_ Your top hats sleek and tall, _

_ For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat _

_ And I can cap them all. _

_ There’s nothing hidden in your head  _

_ The sorting Hat can’t see, _

_ So try me on and I will tell you _

_ Where you ought to be. _

_ You might belong in Gryffindor, _

_ Where dwell the brave of heart, _

_ Their daring, nerve, and chivalry _

_ Set Gryffindors apart; _

_ You might belong in Hufflepuff, _

_ Where they are just and loyal, _

_ Those patient Hufflepuffs are true _

_ And unafraid of toil; _

_ Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, _

_ If you’ve a ready mind, _

_ Where those of wit and learning,  _

_ Will always find their kind; _

_ Or perhaps in Slytherin _

_ You’ll make your real friends, _

_ Those cunning folk use any means _

_ To achieve their ends. _

_ So put me on! Don’t be afraid! _

_ And don’t get in a flap! _

_ You’re in safe hands (though I have none) _

_ For I’m a thinking Cap!” _

When the song was finished the hall burst into applause and the hat bowed. 

“So we just have to try the hat on!” whispered Ron, “I’m going to kill Fred, he said that the sorting process was painful!” 

Harry felt some of his nerves disappear, trying on a hat was much better, and easier, than having to complete some horrible task. Although he did wish that the sorting could take place somewhere more private.

Professor McGonagall began calling off names from a long roll of parchment. As each student heard their name called they would step forward and sit on the stool, then Professor McGonagall would put the hat on their head and it would call out their house. 

Harry didn’t pay much attention to the other students as they were called up; he was much to nervous. Though he paid attention when Hermione was called up. She ran to the stool eagerly and after a few moments of silence she was placed in Ravenclaw. Harry smiled at her as she made her way towards the blue and bronze table.

“I knew it,” muttered Draco.

When Neville was called he almost tripped on his way up, but Draco managed to grab his arm. The hat took a long time with Neville before shouting, “Gryffindor!” Neville looked shocked and rather dazed as he made his way towards the cheering table.

Draco walked up to the stool confidently and if he didn’t know any better Harry would have believed it. But Draco got what he wanted; the hat had barely touched his head before shouting out, “Slytherin!” 

Draco looked rather pleased with himself as he walked towards the Slytherin table, but Harry could see the relief on his face.

Harry noticed nervously that there weren’t many people left now and soon McGonagall was calling, “Potter, Harry!”

The hall grew quiet as Harry moved forward, he felt slightly lightheaded. He was glad to sit down on the stool because he felt as though his knees might give out at any moment. 

Then the hat was placed on his head covering his eyes. And then he waited.

“Difficult, very difficult,” said a voice, “Lots of courage, a good mind. You have a talent, and a thirst to prove yourself along with it. How interesting. Now where to put you?”

Harry thought of his parents and of how he wanted to be in the same house as them.

“Very well,” said the voice, which Harry realized was the hat, “Gryffindor!”

The hat was removed and Harry managed to get up and walk towards the table amidst the loud applause, the loudest yet. 

Harry sat down next to Neville giving the boy a smile which he returned, though he still appeared to be in shock. Across from them were Ron’s twin brothers, Fred and George, who were cheering loudly.

Ron soon joined them at the Gryffindor table grinning broadly as he sat next to Harry. 

Once the sorting was finished the stool and hat were removed and Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet. He beamed down at the students and stretched out his arms.

“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!” he began. “Before we begin eating I would like to make a few announcements. First, the forest is forbidden to all students. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind everyone that magic should not be used in the corridors between classes. Quidditch trials will be held the second week of the term. If you are interested in trying out please contact Madam Hooch. And finally, the third-floor corridor on the right-side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.” 

“Is he serious?” muttered Harry.

“He must be,” said Percy, Ron’s older brother and a Gryffindor Prefect, “although he typically gives a reason for such things.”

Neville had made a slight squeak in alarm at the announcement and lost any color he had begun to gain back. 

Dumbledore called for the feast to begin and instantly the gold plates filled with piles of food. Harry had never seen so much food in his life. 

Harry chatted with Neville, Ron and his new housemates, although he wished that Hermione and Draco were with them. He would have to find a way to meet up with the two of them soon. 

A ghost wearing a large ruff floated towards the Gryffindor table. He introduced himself to the first years as Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.

“I’ve heard of you!” said Ron, “You’re Nearly Headless Nick!”

“I’d prefer Sir Nicholas-” the ghost began before being interrupted by another first year, Seamus Finnigan.

“ _ Nearly _ headless? How can anyone be  _ nearly _ headless?”

“Like  _ this _ .” He grabbed his left ear and pulled causing his whole head to swing off his neck and lay against his shoulder. It appeared as though someone had attempted to behead him, but failed. He flipped his head back onto his neck appearing pleased with their stunned expressions and said, “New Gryffindors, I hope you’re going to help us win the house championship this year. Slytherin has won for the last six years, and the Bloody Baron, he’s the Slytherin ghost, is becoming unbearable!” 

Looking over at the Slytherin table Harry could see a ghost with a gaunt face with robes covered in silvery blood. He appeared to be talking to Draco and the other first year Slytherins.  

Harry looked up at the professor’s table when suddenly Draco’s godfather, Professor Snape, looked past Quirrell's turban and straight at Harry. Instantly Harry felt a sharp, almost burning pain in his forehead centered around his scar. Harry winced clapping a hand to his forehead and looked away.

“Are you alright?” asked Neville.

“I’m fine,” Harry assured Neville who looked skeptical, “really it’s nothing.” 

The pain had already left as quickly as it had come. 

Harry kept glancing up at Snape throughout the meal, but Snape didn’t look at him again and his scar didn’t hurt him. 

When the meal was finished the Prefects began leading the first years towards their dorms. On the way out of the hall Harry caught a glimpse of Draco who gave him a nod as he was lead away to the Slytherin dorms.

Percy lead the Gryffindor first years towards their dorms which were located in one of the towers according to Ron. Harry was getting tired and was wondering how much further they had to go when they came to a stop.

A bundle of walking sticks were floating in midair in front of them. Percy stepped forward and immediately one of the sticks was thrown at him.

“It’s Peeves,” Percy informed the first years, “a poltergeist. Peeves! Show yourself!” he yelled at the empty air.

Harry heard someone, presumably Peeves, blow a raspberry.

“Don’t make me get the Bloody Baron Peeves!”

There was a small pop and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide grinning mouth appeared, floating in front of them, holding the walking sticks. 

“Oooooh!” he said, “Look at the lil’ firsties! What fun!”

He swooped towards the group making everyone duck. 

“I’m warning you Peeves, I will get the Bloody Baron!”

Peeves stuck out his tongue before vanishing, dropping all the walking sticks. Ron and Harry both grabbed one of Neville’s arms and just managed to prevent the walking sticks from falling on him. 

“You’re going to want to watch out for Peeves,” said Percy, “the only one who can control him is the Bloody Baron.” 

They kept walking until they came to the end of the corridor and stopped in front of a portrait of a fat lady wearing a pink dress. 

“Password?” she said.

“Caput Draconis,” said Percy, and the portrait swung forward like a door. They walked through into the Gryffindor common room. The common room was round with lots of windows and a large fireplace with a picture of a roaring lion above the mantle. Spread throughout the room were comfortable looking couches and armchairs. There was a bulletin board on the wall with school notices, posters, and ads. Tapestries on the wall depicted witches and wizards as well as animals. There were bookshelves scattered around the room. The room was decorated in several different shades of red. 

Percy directed the girls through the door to the right and the boys to the left. They climbed up a spiral staircase until they found the first years’ dorm room. Inside there were five four-poster beds with deep red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up and placed in front of their bed. Harry’s bed was in between Neville’s and Ron’s. 

Tired, all the boys collapsed into bed without another word. 

Harry had a strange dream where he was wearing Professor Quirrell’s turban which was talking to him. He struggled to remove it while Professor Snape watched, unmoving. There was a burst of green light and Harry woke in a cold sweat.

After a little while he was able to fall back to sleep, and in the morning he had no memory of the dream. 

 


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

The next morning Harry was the first one in his dorm to wake up. He was used to waking up early at the Dursleys to make breakfast. He thought about waiting for Ron and Neville to wake up, but his stomach rumbled so he decided to head down to the Great Hall. He grabbed his school books and put them in his bag before leaving. 

When he got to the Great Hall it was mostly empty. He spotted Hermione at the Ravenclaw table, she had a pot of tea in front of her and was reading a book. He noticed that she was sitting alone, away from the other Ravenclaws.  

“Morning,” said Harry as he sat down across from her. She smiled at him and put her book down. They talked about their classes, Harry was looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts, even though his first impressions of Professor Quirrell weren’t the best, the man seemed afraid of his own shadow. Hermione was looking forward to transfiguration, which was taught by Professor McGonagall. 

As they talked Harry became aware that a lot of people were staring at him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his celebrity status in the Wizarding World or because he was sitting at the Ravenclaw table, since from what he had seen, everyone stuck to their own house table. 

Ron and Neville soon joined them, Neville nearly tripping on his robes as he entered the hall. Ron glanced at the Gryffindor table for a moment as if unsure if he should sit at the Ravenclaw table, but shrugged and sat down next to Harry, immediately loading his plate with food. 

The Great Hall was filling up fast and Harry saw Draco walking towards the Slytherin table. The blonde was clearly not a morning person; he looked as if he were sleepwalking. 

“Draco,” called Harry. 

The blonde started at the sound of his name and after a second of looking around blurrily, he located Harry and shuffled towards him. 

He sat down next to Hermione who poured him a cup of tea. He nodded gratefully at her before downing it one gulp. 

Draco had barely managed to finish his breakfast when it was time to go.

“What’s are first class?” asked Ron, his mouth full as he quickly stuffed the last bites of his breakfast into his mouth. 

Harry pulled his schedule out of his bag.

“Potions.”

“I have potions too,” said Draco, who appeared to be somewhat more awake after downing a second cup of tea, “it’s in the dungeons.”  

The boys said their goodbyes to Hermione and Draco led the way to the potions classroom telling them about Snape and the potions he had made before. Harry found that he didn’t recognize half of the potion ingredients Draco was talking about. 

Harry noticed a lot of people glancing at him and could hear them whispering his name. Some people were subtle about it, but others would double past him just to get a second look at him. Whenever Draco caught someone staring at Harry he would stare them down until they looked away, which Harry was grateful for. Draco seemed good at scaring people off, and one Hufflepuff girl ran away when he so much as looked at her.

“It’s the family name,” he said, “The Malfoys are a powerful family.”

“And dark,” added Ron, Draco just shrugged.  

The potions classroom was colder than the rest of the castle and was rather dark. It would have been creepy without the jars filled with animal body parts. There were tables with two seats at each and there was a clear divide between the Slytherin and Gryffindor students. Professor Snape wasn’t there yet so Harry guessed that this was the students doing and not Snape separating them. 

Draco and Harry sat in the front on the Gryffindor side, and Ron and Neville sat behind them. The other students seemed surprised by Draco sitting with the Gryffindors and some were even glaring at him. Harry was surprised by the amount of distrust in the eyes of his fellow Gryffindors. But if Draco noticed the looks he ignored them as be began unpacking his potion supplies.  

“I’m kind of scared,” said Neville, “I’m not very good at making potions. My Gran says that I have a real knack for making things explode. And it doesn’t help that I’m kind of clumsy.”

From what Harry had seen of Neville there was no ‘kind of’ involved, the boy might as well have had two left feet.   

“Fred and George are the ones who are good at potions,” said Ron, “They’re always trying to invent new potions for their pranks.”

“I’m good at potions,” said Draco, “As my godfather, Snape has been teaching me since I was little. So just do what I do and you’ll be fine.”

Snape walked into the room, black robes billowing out behind him dramatically. He started the class with roll call, first the Slytherins, then the Gryffindors. He seemed rather surprised to see where Draco was sitting, raising an eyebrow at his godson. When he got to Harry’s name he paused. 

“Ah, yes,” he said softly, “Harry Potter. Our new- _ celebrity _ .” He said the word like an insult.  

He finished roll call and then turned his cold, dark eyes on the class.

“Many of you will be unable to grasp the art of potion making. Some of you may hardly believe it to be magic because there is no foolish wand-waving. I don’t expect you to truly understand the beauty behind crafting potions. But I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, bewitch the mind, even stopper death, if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.” 

The room was completely silent following his speech. Harry glanced back at Neville and Ron. Ron was frowning and poor Neville was nearly as pale as he was the night of the sorting. 

“Potter!” snapped Snape suddenly. “What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?”

_ Powered what to an infusion of what? _ Harry glanced around nervously. He had no idea! He had looked through his books, including  _ Magical Drafts and Potions _ and  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _ , but he couldn’t remember. He was about to tell Snape this when Draco spoke up.

“How should he know?! It’s the first class!”

Snape looked at his godson in surprise for the second time that class and frowned. Draco stared right back at him, refusing to look away. The class stared at the pair, waiting for Snape to yell at Draco, or do something.

But eventually Snape looked away and moved on with the class. He had them work in pairs to mix a simple potion to cure boils. Harry worked with Draco, and Neville and Ron worked together.

“Let’s turn are seats around so we can face Neville and Ron,” suggested Harry.

As the two boys moved their seats Harry could feel Snape watching them, but he didn’t say a word. 

Draco instructed the others on what to do and helped critique them as needed since it appeared Snape expected them to already know how to do everything. In fact, it looked like the potions teacher was purposefully avoiding their group. Draco grabbed Neville’s hand before he added the porcupine quills to the cauldron. 

“Take the cauldron off the fire first,” he instructed. 

At the end of class both groups turned in what Draco declared to be perfect potions, but a couple of the other groups had added the porcupine quills when the cauldron was still over the fire and had melted their cauldrons.  

As they walked out of the classroom Harry could feel Snape’s eyes following him. He didn’t know why, but it seemed obvious that for whatever reason Snape didn’t like him. But at least Snape shouldn’t just automatically fail his potion out of spite, because that would also mean failing Draco, which he didn’t think Snape would do.

When they had left the classroom Draco turned to Harry.   

“I don’t know why he asked you that question, though the answer is a powerful sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death by the way. But wait until my father hears about this! If he tries to single you out like that again I’ll have to ask father to talk to him.” 

The Gryffindors said goodbye to Draco and headed towards History of Magic. They shared the class with the Ravenclaws and Hermione sat with Harry, Ron and Neville. 

Professor Binns was a ghost, apparently he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to teach, simply leaving his body behind. Unfortunately the class was horribly boring, Harry wasn’t even sure how he managed to make goblin wars boring, but somehow he did. No one asked a single question or raised their hand during the class, not even Hermione, though she did take diligent notes the entire time. Harry tried to take notes, but he kept messing up the goblins’ names.  

After History of Magic was lunch and the group met up with Draco, this time sitting at the Slytherin table despite the looks they received. Draco just gave them what Ron was calling his ‘pureblood glare,’ and they looked away. They made a point of not looking at Harry and his friends throughout the rest of the meal, which was just fine with Harry.   

After lunch the Gryffindors and Slytherins had Defense Against the Dark Arts together. Harry and Draco were really excited for the class, but Quirrell's class turned out to be a bit of a joke. The classroom smelled strongly of garlic, everyone said this was to ward off a vampire Quirrell had meet in Romania and was afraid would come back to get him one of these days. He told the class that his turban was a gift from an African prince as a thank you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but everyone was a little skeptical of the story because when pressed to give details he just started talking about the weather. 

Draco walked out of the class grumbling about how they needed to get a competent teacher and that his father would be hearing about this.    

Defense Against the Dark Arts was their last class of the day and they now had a break before dinner. The group made their way to the library where they had agreed to meet Hermione. They found a table in a back corner and talked for a little while before beginning to work on their potions essay. Draco and Hermione helped the others so when it was time for dinner they had each completed the essay. 

They ate dinner at the Gryffindor table, which was by far the loudest out of the four tables. 

“We need to do something about DADA,” said Draco, “we’re not going to learn anything in there!”

“Yeah,” said Harry, he was still disappointed about the class.

“Well it's only the first day,” said Hermione.

“You don’t understand because you haven’t had the class yet,” said Ron, “I couldn’t make out half of what he was saying and the half I could understand was completely useless! The man is terrified of everything and he’s supposed to be teaching us how to fight!” 

“But what are we supposed to do?” asked Neville.

“We teach ourselves,” said Draco, “I’m sure that there are plenty of empty classrooms around. We can find one and practice spells.”

“Isn’t that against the rules?” asked Hermione.

“Just think of it as extra practice,” said Draco, “like studying or reading, but more practical. And it would be a great chance for you to show us what you’ve already learned.” 

This seemed to please Hermione who agreed that they should spend their breaks practicing spells.      

The next morning they sat together for breakfast again. When the owls swooped in to drop off letters Neville received a large package. 

“I forgot a lot of things at home,” he said sheepishly.  

There was also a small package which he opened.

“Gram sent me a remembrall!”

The remembrall was a small glass ball the size of a tennis ball. It was filled with white smoke. 

“What’s that?” said Harry.

“It changes color if you forgot something,” said Ron.

The smoke in the remembrall changed to red in Neville’s hand. 

“So what did you forget Neville?” asked Draco.

Neville frowned.

“That’s the problem, I don’t remember what I forgot.”  

The group listed items that Neville would need during the day, but in the end they weren’t able to figure out what Neville had forgotten. 

“Maybe it’s defective,” said Draco, “can I see it?”

Neville handed Draco the remembrall which returned to its original smoky white color. When he handed it back to Neville it turned red again. By the end of the day they had still not managed to figure out what Neville had forgotten.  

The group soon fell into a routine of going to class, eating meals at alternating house tables and working on assignments together. On their breaks they would find an empty classroom and began working there way through the list of first year spells that they should have been learning in defense. They even began working on slightly more advanced spells. 

By the time Thursday came around Harry was able to make his way to the Great Hall without getting lost or having to ask one of the ghosts for directions. Thursday was also the day of their first flying lesson. At three-thirty that afternoon all the first years had made their way down to the castle grounds. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies, although it was a bit breezy. 

Madam Hooch stood waiting for them with broomsticks already laying on the ground. Madam Hooch had short gray hair and yellow hawk like eyes. 

“Hurry up!” she called, “Everyone stand by a broom!”

The group hurried forward to get brooms next to each other. 

Madame Hooch told the class to hold their right hand out over their broom and say ‘up.’

“Up,” everyone yelled.

Harry’s and Draco’s brooms jumped into their hands at once, but most didn’t get it on the first try. Ron managed to get his after a few tries, but Hermione’s broom just rolled over and Neville’s didn’t move at all. Harry wondered if brooms were like horses, able to sense fear, and Neville definitely sounded like he’d prefer to keep both feet on the ground.

They were then shown how to mount their brooms and how to grip the handle. Madame Hooch then allowed them to kick off the ground to try hovering for a moment before going back down.

Neville began to kick off the ground before Madam Hooch blew her whistle, but Draco and Harry, who were on either side of him, managed to put a hand on both his shoulders so he barely made it off the ground. When the whistle did blow they hoovered in the air for a moment, but one Hufflepuff kicked off too hard and went soaring into the air. The Hufflepuff went flying straight up twenty feet into the air where he hovered for a moment, Madam Hooch yelling for him to come down at once. But he slipped off his broom and fell to the ground forcing Madam Hooch to bring him to the hospital wing. 

After she left Draco mounted his broom and easily soared into the air.

“Draco, come down!” yelled Hermione, “Madam Hooch said no flying, you’re going to get in trouble!”

“You need to relax Hermione,” replied Draco, “lighten up, I’ll be able to see her walking back. Hey, Harry, give it a try!”

“Harry don’t!” said Hermione, but Harry had already mounted his broom and kicked off the ground. 

He soared upwards, the air rushing past him causing his robes to be whipped out behind him. He felt a rush of joy as he leveled with Draco,  _ this _ was something he could do, and it was wonderful!

Harry grinned at Draco who grinned right back. 

“It’s fantastic!”

“I knew you’d like it!” said Draco, “Want to test your skills?” 

Harry nodded.

“Hey Ron,” yelled Draco, “can you find a rock or something to throw? I want to see if Harry has seeker potential.” Harry remembered that seeker was Draco’s favorite position to play. 

Ron searched the ground, but he couldn’t find a large enough rock. 

“Would the remembrall work?” called up Neville.

“Yeah, that would work perfectly. I’ll make sure to catch it if Harry doesn’t, since he most likely won’t be able to.”

“We’ll see about that Malfoy,” said Harry. 

Neville threw the remembrall high into the air and Harry zoomed after it, Draco on his tail. Harry managed to remove his right hand from the broomstick and leaned forward, stretching out his arm. The remembrall flashed in front of him and he reached forward, snatching it out of the air a foot from the ground. He had just enough time to pull out of his dive and tumbled gently onto the grass, remembrall clutched in his hand. 

Draco landed next to him, grinning. 

“Nice catch!” he said, helping Harry up, “You’re a natural, looks I’ll have someone to compete against next year when I’m on the Slytherin Quidditch team.”

“HARRY POTTER!” 

Harry whipped around, his heart sinking as he saw Professor McGonagall running towards them.

“It wasn’t his fault Professor!” said Draco, “I was in the air as well!” 

“That’s enough Mr. Malfoy. Potter, come with me.”

Draco opened his mouth as if to protest again, but Harry shook his head stopping him. He followed Professor McGonagall, handing Neville his remembrall on the way past. 

He was in a state of shock, was he about to be expelled? But Draco had been in the air as well and McGonagall didn’t want to see him.

Professor McGonagall stopped outside a classroom and poked her head inside.

“Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?”

A second later a fifth-year Gryffindor boy came out, looking confused. Harry felt just as confused. Professor McGonagall led the two of them to an empty classroom before addressing them.

“Potter, this is Oliver wood. Wood-I’ve found you a seeker.” 

A wide grin spread across Wood’s face.

“Are you serious Professor?”

“Absolutely, he’s a natural. Caught a small object out of a fifty-foot dive, without a scratch. Even Charlie Weasley couldn’t have done that. Was that your first time on a broomstick Potter?”

Harry nodded feeling numb. He still wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, but he wasn’t being expelled, so that was good.  

Wood though looked as if all his dreams had just come true.

“Wood is the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team,” McGonagall informed him, “I’ll talk to Professor Dumbledore about bending the rule about first years not being allowed brooms, and I’ll see if we can get him a good broom. Goodness knows we need a good seeker, we were flattened by Slytherin last year. It was embarrassing, I couldn’t look Professor Snape in the eye for weeks.”  

Professor McGonagall then gave him a stern look over her glasses. 

“I want to hear that you’re training hard Potter, or I may change my mind about punishing you.”

She suddenly broke into a smile.

“Your father would be proud, he was an excellent Quidditch player.” 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

“I can’t believe it!” said Draco. “You must be one of the youngest seekers in Hogwarts history! Wait until my father hears about this!” Draco sounded equal parts jealous and impressed.   

They were at dinner, sitting at the Ravenclaw table and Harry had just finished telling them about his conversation with McGonagall. 

“Yeah,” agreed Ron, his voice filled with awe, “first years are never on the team!”

“Wood said I was the youngest seeker in a century.”

“Wow,” said Neville, “I wish I was good at quidditch. But I’ll be sure to cheer you on at all the matches.”

“When do you start training?” asked Draco.

“Next week, but don’t tell anyone, Wood wants it to be a secret.” Draco looked like he was already devising a training schedule of his own for Harry.

“I still can’t believe you didn’t get in trouble,” said Hermione looking at both Draco and Harry.

Fred and George Weasley walked into the hall and walked towards them when they spotted Harry.

“Congratulations,” they said at the same time, their voices low.

“Wood told us,” said George, “we’re beaters on the team.” 

“You must be good,” said Fred, “I can’t remember the last time Wood looked so happy. He wouldn’t stop talking about you.”

“Anyway, gotta go, Lee Jordan may have found a new passageway out of the school.”

“I bet it’s the one we found our first year.” 

The twins left the Great Hall waving goodbye to the group.

“Do any of you know if there’s some sort of record of past Quidditch teams?” asked Harry. 

Hermione frowned in thought and Draco shrugged.

“I’m not sure, there probably is one somewhere, why?”

“According to Professor McGonagall my father played Quidditch when he was in school.” 

“I wonder if he won any trophies,” said Draco, “If so you could find it in the trophy room.”

After dinner the group went to the trophy room to look. The room was filled with case after case of trophies, most of which were covered in a thick layer of dust, and they quickly decided to split up to look. They had been searching for a while when Neville called out to the group.

“I found him, James Potter!” 

The group ran over to the trophy case and Neville moved so Harry could see. Sure enough there was a gold trophy with the name James Potter on it.

Draco leaned over to see it better.

“He was a chaser,” he said, reading the trophy. 

Suddenly Hermione gasped.

“Do you realize how late it is? We need to get back to our dorms before curfew!”

They hurried out of the room, but it quickly became apparent that they didn’t know where they were. They rushed around the corridors hoping to catch sight of a familiar landmark. 

“We need to find our dorms,” said Hermione, “it’s past curfew! We’re going to be expelled!”

They heard a noise from a nearby room.

“Keep sniffing my sweet, they could be anywhere.”

The group froze in terror; they recognized that voice. It was Filch, the nasty caretaker, and it sounded like he talking to his cat, Mrs. Norris. Harry waved at the others to follow him down a corridor lined with suits of armour. 

Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and began running-he thought he had spotted Mrs. Norris following them. He tripped, Ron tried to stop his fall, but ended up going down with him and the two went crashing into a suit of armour.

“Run!” yelled Harry, and the group raced down the corridor as fast as they could go after pulling Ron and Neville to their feet. Harry, who was in the lead, had no ideas where he was going. They came to a dead end with nothing but a tapestry of a unicorn hanging on the wall.

“This is it!” cried Neville, “We’re finished! Gran is going to be so disappointed!” 

“Wait until my father hears about this!” said Draco.  

Harry noticed that the tapestry was moving as if being moved by a breeze, but the hallway didn’t seem to have a draft, unless. He ripped the tapestry aside and saw a hidden passageway. They quickly darted inside and continued running until they came out near their charms classroom. 

“Have we lost him?” asked Draco. Neville was bent over, gasping for breath.

“I think so,” replied Harry.

“I can’t believe this,” said Hermione, “it’s not our fault that we got lost and now we're going to get in trouble if we get caught.”

“We won’t get caught,” said Ron, “we know where we are now, so we just have to go back to our dorms.” 

They nodded and set out, but they had barely taken a couple steps before Peeves came flying out of a classroom in front of them. 

Peeves stared at them in shock for a moment before letting out a squeal of delight.

“Don’t you dare,” said Draco, “I’m a Slytherin, I’ll send the Bloody Baron after you! I’m a Malfoy, I’ll tell my father!” 

“Please Peeves,” said Hermione, “you’ll get us thrown out!” 

“I should tell Filch,” said Peeves, placing a finger to his lips, “naughty children must be taught a lesson.”

“Get out of our way,” snapped Ron, moving forward. He made a swipe at Peeves, which turned out to be a big mistake.

“STUDENTS OUT OF BED,” he bellowed, “STUDENTS IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!” 

Running past Peeves the group sprinted as fast as they could until they got to the end of the corridor in front of a door. Neville grabbed the handle, nearly running into the door, but it was locked. 

“Okay, now this is it!” Ron moaned, “We’re definitely finished!”

Filch could be heard running towards them. 

“Move over!” said Hermione, taking out her wand she pointed it at the lock, “ _ Alohomora _ !” 

The door clicked open and the group stumbled through, closing the door behind them. They pressed their ears against the door and listened to Filch argue with Peeves. It sounded like they were safe; Peeves had chosen to annoy Filch rather than tell him where they went. 

“Guys,” whispered Neville, his voice trembling.

“What?” asked Harry, he turned around and froze in terror. For in the room with them was a giant, monstrous dog with three heads. And all three heads were looking at right at them, drool dripping from mouths filled with sharp yellow fangs. 

Harry was pretty sure the only reason they weren’t already dead was because they had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly shaking off its’ surprise, a low growl rumbling through its’ massive chest.

They all scrambled for the doorknob, bumping into each other in their haste, and they went tumbling out of the room, Neville falling onto the floor, as the others quickly slammed the door behind them. They ran as fast as they could, skidding around corners, Hermione and Draco splitting off from the group to head towards their respective dorms. 

The Gryffindors continued running until they made it safely back into Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady gave them a slightly disapproving look as the portrait swung open. They went to their dorm and immediately collapsed into bed, too shellshocked to talk about what they had just seen. Harry lay awake for a little while, unable to sleep. He now knew why they weren’t allowed in the third-floor corridor, for that’s where they had been he realized, but that didn’t answer the question of  _ why _ there was a massive three headed dog in the school. Who’s brilliant idea was it to keep something like that around children? Harry pondered this as he eventually slipped into sleep. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The next morning the group met up early for breakfast. They sat huddled together at the Gryffindor table, which was always the least crowded in the morning.  

“What was that?” asked Ron. “And whose bloody idea was it to keep it in a school?”

“It must be guarding whatever’s in that trapdoor,” said Neville.

The group stared at Neville in shock.

“Trapdoor?” asked Draco slowly.

Neville nodded.

“Yeah, it was standing on top of a trap door. Didn’t you guys see it?”

“No,” said Ron, “I was too busy looking at its heads! Because if you guys didn’t notice, it had three of them!”  

They were interrupted by the arrival of the owls. Harry was surprised when Hedwig landed next to him, a letter tied to her leg. He untied the letter and gave Hedwig a piece of his toast before she flew away. 

“It’s a letter from Hagrid,” he told the others, “he wants to meet for tea on our break today.” It was Friday so they all had a long break after lunch. 

“That’s it!” he suddenly exclaimed, “When Hagrid brought me to Gringotts he took a small package out of a vault. It was the only thing in the entire vault. He said it was Hogwarts business; I bet that’s what the dog was guarding!”

“Any chance he might tell us what it is?” asked Draco.

“I doubt it, but maybe we could get some information about it. We should all go down on our break. I’d like you guys to meet him anyway.” Everyone agreed and left for class with everyone except Hermione heading to the dungeons for double potions. 

Snape didn’t say anything to Harry for the entire class, but several times it looked like he wanted to, but he never did. Harry could feel his eyes on him as he worked and he knew that Snape was glaring. Harry wondered if Draco had told his father about their first class and that was why Snape wasn’t saying anything to him.  

The group moved their seats to face each other again and thanks to Draco they were two of the only groups to hand in a completed potion that was the correct color. 

A pair Slytherin boys managed to melt their cauldron causing Draco to grimace. 

“Crabbe and Goyle,” he told them, “My father knows their fathers. They’re complete idiots, but they seemed pretty willing to act as my bodyguards if needed. I should probably try to help them next time, or they may end up blowing up the entire classroom.”   

The boys joined Hermione in the Great Hall for lunch and after scarfing down their food the group waited as long as they could before finally giving in and heading to Hagrid’s. 

Hagrid lived in a small wooden house that was more of a hut on the edge of the forbidden forest. He was growing enormous pumpkins that Neville walked over and looked at, commenting that they had to be grown with magic to have gotten that large. 

Harry knocked on the door and heard a dog barking and Hagrid saying, “Fang, back. Get back.”

Hagrid pulled open the door, a wide grin on his hairy face, he was holding the collar of a huge black boarhound.

“Hello Hagrid,” Harry greeted him, “I hope you don’t mind, but I brought some friends to meet you.” 

“Not at all, come on it,” he said, “we may be a bit squished is all.”

The group managed to fit around Hagrid’s table with Hermione and Ron sharing a seat and Harry sharing a seat with Draco. Harry introduced everyone as Hagrid poured them tea. Harry saw surprise and then suspicion on Hagrid’s face when he introduced Draco, but Hagrid said nothing. 

They chatted about their classes and professors and Harry told Hagrid about how he made the Quidditch team and like McGonagall he remarked that Harry’s father would have been very proud. 

Ron was telling Hagrid about his brother Charlie’s work with dragons and Harry was trying to find a way to bring up the object in the Gringotts vault when he caught sight of a piece of paper on the table. It was a clipping from the wizarding newspaper the  _ Daily Prophet _ . The headline read ‘Gringotts Break-In Latest.’ Harry quickly read through the article and then showed it to Draco. The article said the break-in had occurred on 31 July, the same day Harry had gone to Gringotts with Hagrid. It also said that the vault that was broken into had been previously emptied the same day. 

Harry held up the article so Hagrid could see.

“Was it the vault that you emptied that was broken into?”

Hagrid didn’t answer, and he didn’t meet Harry’s eyes, instead offering him another rock cake, which were formless lumps as hard as actual rocks. 

Draco glanced at Harry before asking the question the whole group was wondering. 

“Is that what the massive three headed dog is guarding?” 

Hagrid spilled his tea all over the table and opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“How do you know about Fluffy?” he asked gruffly.  

“Fluffy!?” said Ron. “That’s its name? How’d you come up with that?”  

“I don’t know what you kids are up to, but you better stay out of this. It’s dangerous business it is.” 

Hagrid suggested that they make there way back to school so they bid their goodbyes and began walking back to the castle.

“I don’t think Hagrid was very happy with you asking that question,” Neville commented to Draco. Draco shrugged.

“He didn’t really like me to begin with anyway; I’m a Slytherin from a family of Slytherins. Besides, his reaction alone gave us our answer.” 

“But we still don’t know what the object is,” said Hermione, “I think we should go to the library and do some research. There must be loads of books on powerful magical objects. Maybe we can at least try and narrow it down somewhat.”  

The group went to the library and claimed a table. Hermione disappeared between the shelves and reemerged with a huge pile of thick books which she divided among them. They began reading through the books and talking about objects that might fit what they knew about their object, which wasn’t much. Hermione got out a parchment and began listing anything that might possibly be the object. Before they knew it the library was closing and Hermione’s list was rather long and extensive. 

“It’s really impossible to narrow it down with the little information we know,” Hermione said as they returned the books to the shelves, “there must be some way to find out more information.” 

“You mean  _ besides _ trying to sneak past Fluffy the three headed dog?” said Ron.

The group bid their farewells and went their separate ways for the night. Each of them thinking about the object that was being protected by the massive guard dog.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Time flew by fast for Harry; he was kept very busy between making time for his new friends, his assignments and practicing Quidditch three days a week. For Quidditch he had been giving a Nimbus Two Thousand, which Draco and Ron were itching to ride, but due to the rules about first years and brooms they couldn’t fly and they were all too nervous to try and sneak out after hours after the last time. Although they had been sneaking into unused classrooms on their breaks to work on more advanced spells. It turned out that Hermione was great at learning spells just by reading about them and was able to teach the others. Draco also new a lot of spells that Hogwarts didn’t teach because they were considered to be borderline dark. 

Before Harry knew it two months had passed and it was Halloween. He had been at Hogwarts for two months, and they were by far the best two months of Harry’s young life. The castle had become more of a home to him than Privet Drive had ever been. 

On Halloween morning Harry awoke to the smells of baking pumpkin. But the best part was in Charms when Professor Flitwick announced that they were ready to begin making objects fly. They were put in partners, Harry with Neville, and Ron with Hermione, since Gryffindor shared the class with Ravenclaw. 

They practiced the spell,  _ Wingardium Leviosa _ on feathers. It was very difficult. Harry swished and flicked his wrist like he was told, but his feather didn’t move. Around the classroom the other students also struggled to move their feathers. 

“You’re saying it wrong,” Hermione told Ron next to him. “It’s Wing- _ gar _ -dium Levi- _ o _ -sa.” 

“If you’re so clever, then you do it,” muttered Ron.

Hermione flicked her wand at the feather and said the spell, and sure enough her feather floated over the desk and hovered above her head.

“Well done!” exclaimed Professor Flitwick. “Look everyone, Miss Granger has done it!”

Neville managed to set their feather on fire, but Harry managed to put it out before the fire spread. Seamus Finnigan wasn’t so lucky, his feather exploded in his face and it looked like he had at least partially scorched his eyebrows off.  

After charms the Gryffindors went to the greenhouses for herbology with the Hufflepuffs. Herbology was by far Neville’s favourite class and it was also his best subject. 

The three Gryffindors were joined by Rolf Scamander, a Hufflepuff who had begun to hang out with them in herbology. He even joined them in the library occasionally to work on his assignments with them, though the group was careful not to mention anything about Fluffy or the object being guarded around him. Rolf was very laid back, he often appeared to be distracted during lessons, gazing into the distance or sketching images of bizarre creatures instead of writing notes. At first the professors would often try to catch him not paying attention by randomly asking him questions, but so far he had answered each question correctly, so now they mostly left him alone. 

Rolf told them about the time his grandfather’s niffler escaped and robbed a jewelry store in New York City.  

After their classes ended for the day they went to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. Harry gasped in amazement at the sight of the Great Hall decorated for Halloween. Hagrid’s giant carved pumpkins lined the walls, their lights casting flickering shadows across the dark hall. The ceiling showed a dark stormy sky with streaks of lightning shooting across it. Live bats flew around just above the students heads. And the food! The tables were practically groaning under the weight of it. 

The Great Hall was filling up with students quickly. Harry looked around for an area large enough for their group to sit at. Rolf waved at them from the Hufflepuff table and pointed to the empty section of bench near him. The three Gryffindors walked over and sat on the bench and they were joined by Draco a moment later. They began loading their plates with food.

“Where’s Hermione?” asked Neville. Harry looked around the hall trying to spot the brunette, but he didn’t see her among the crowd.

“She probably stopped at the library and lost track of time again,” said Draco. 

Harry had just started eating when suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall burst open and in ran Professor Quirrell. His turban sat crookedly on his head and his eyes were wide with terror, he was panting hard, as if he had just sprinted there from the other side of the castle. He ran straight up to the professor’s table, everyone in the hall staring at him, conversations quickly dying down. He struggled to speak for a second, gasping for air, before addressing Dumbledore. 

“Troll-in the dungeon-thought you ought to know.” He then proceeded to faint. 

There was a brief moment of silence following his announcement, then absolute chaos. People began screaming and jumping to their feet, but they didn’t seem to know where to go. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore’s wand to gain everyone’s attention.

“Prefects, lead your Houses to the dormitories immediately!”

Draco went pale.

“But the Slytherin dorms are in the dungeon! Is he trying to kill us?”  

“Come with us,” said Neville, “you can stay in Gryffindor Tower.” 

“Wait,” said Harry, “Hermione! She doesn’t know about the troll! We need to find her!”

“But we don’t know where she is,” said Ron. “What if she isn’t in the library?”

“We should ask a Ravenclaw if they know where she is,” said Rolf. 

Harry nodded and quickly made his way over to the Ravenclaws who were exiting the Great Hall. He grabbed one of the first year girls he recognized from class, “Have you seen Hermione?” 

She shook her head and shrugged him off. 

“Hermione Granger?” asked a voice behind him. He turned to see Parvati Patil, a Slytherin girl that Harry often caught staring after Draco, “She was in the girls bathroom, crying. Apparently some of the Ravenclaw girls had said some rather nasty things to her.” 

Harry frowned at this, feeling anger bubble up inside him, but he pushed it aside for the moment and thanked Parvati. He looked at the others and saw that they had heard what Parvati said. Without a word they exited the Great Hall and headed towards the nearest girls bathroom. They rounded a corner and were soon alone in the corridor. 

“How can there be a troll in the castle?” asked Neville nervously.

“I don’t know,” said Draco, “but wait until my father hears about this!”  

They suddenly heard footsteps behind them and they quickly ducked into an open classroom. To their surprise they saw Professor Snape walk by. He was walking briskly, his robes billowing out behind him. They waited until he was out of view before leaving the classroom.

“What’s he doing here?” Harry whispered. “Shouldn’t he be in dungeon looking for the troll with the rest of the professors?”

“Maybe he’s looking for any stray students,” Draco whispered back, but Harry saw that he was frowning.

“Come on,” said Rolf, “we need to find Hermione.”

They jogged down the corridor as quietly as they could and harry caught a glimpse of Snape’s receding form, “He’s headed towards the third floor,” he commented. 

“What’s that smell?” asked Ron, and Neville wrinkled his nose.

The others sniffed the air. Harry smelled it immediately, it was a horrible stench like a mixture of sweaty gym socks and dirty public toilets. 

“Do you hear that?” whispered Neville so quietly Harry barely heard him.

There was a sort of shuffling noise coming from down the hall followed by several low grunts. Something was coming towards them, and whatever it was, it was huge. And with a sinking heart Harry could already guess what it was before it rounded the corner.

Before them stood the troll. Harry had never seen a troll before, but its appearance was as horrible as its smell. It looked like it had come straight out of a nightmare; twelve feet tall, at least, an odd lumpy looking body with thick, dark gray skin stretched tightly over its bones. It’s head looked small compared to the rest of its large body and it was bald. The stench seemed to have gotten even worse, which Harry hadn’t thought possible. It was dragging an enormous wooden club behind him. 

As they watched the troll paused by an open door before entering. 

“Please tell me that’s not the girls bathroom,” whispered Draco.

A second later a high pitched, terrified scream came from the room that the troll had just entered. The boys immediately ran towards the girls bathroom and Hermione. 

The bathroom was a disaster zone when they entered. Bathroom stalls had been knocked aside and water sprayed from the destroyed sinks. Hermione stood cowering against the back wall looking like she might faint at any moment as the troll advanced towards her. 

“What do we do?!” yelled Draco.

“Distrast it! Trolls are stupid,” Rolf yelled back, as he spoke he picked up a sink tap and hurled it at the troll. The others quickly followed suit, hurling pieces of debris at the troll’s back. This got the troll’s attention and he turned away from Hermione, a confused expression on its face. Hermione, still terrified, didn’t move despite the distraction. 

“Someone needs to get Hermione!” cried Neville.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” said Draco, his voice unusually high. “Just wait until my father hears about this!” He then sprinted past the troll with a high pitched scream and grabbed Hermione by the arm, but the troll had followed his movement and had turned back to face the two of them, blocking their way. The others continued to hurl debris at the troll to no effect. The troll didn’t even turn when Neville managed to hit it in the head with a piece of metal pipe. 

“Do something!” yelled Draco as the troll lifted its enormous club to smash them to a pulp.

Harry glanced down at the sharp piece of tile in his hand and then did something very stupid, brave, but never the less stupid. He ran at the troll and jumped, wrapping his arms around its thick neck. The troll didn’t seem to notice Harry, but it certainly noticed the piece of tile when Harry began smashing it repeatedly into its face. 

The troll let out a roar of anger and pain, Hermione and Draco were forgotten as it began twisting and turning in a desperate attempt to dislodge Harry. Harry was now holding on for dear life, afraid that he would be trampled if he let go, but he knew if he stayed on much longer he would be crushed against a wall, or the troll would manage to hit him with its club. 

Draco had managed to run past the flailing troll in its confusion, dragging Hermione behind him. He rejoined the others just as Ron pulled out his wand and cried out the first spell that came to his mind, “ _ Wingardium Leviosa _ !” 

The club went flying out of the trolls hand and rose high into the air. The troll stared at it, a dumbfound expression on his face, until Ron ended the spell causing the club to fall right on the troll’s head. The troll swayed for a moment before toppling over and Harry had just enough time to jump off its back to prevent being crushed under its weight. 

Rolf stepped forward and pointed his wand at the troll, “ _ Incarcerous _ !”

Thick ropes burst out of his wand and tied up the unconscious troll. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at the troll in shock, trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last several minutes. 

“Where’d you learn to do that?” asked Neville, breaking the silence.

“My family works with a lot of different creatures, it's pretty useful to know a good binding spell.” 

“Why didn’t you use it sooner then?” asked Draco, a small tremble still present in his voice.

“I’ve never managed to successfully perform it on a moving target, but I think that’s something I should start working on. Especially if I’m going to continue to hang out with you guys.”

Hermione who was shaking slightly and was as pale as a ghost, turned towards Ron.

“You got the pronunciation right.”

Ron stared at her with an incredulous look on his face before saying, “That’s what you're choosing to take away from this?”

Hermione then hugged Ron, “Thank you.” She turned towards Harry.

“What you did was very stupid,” she then hugged him as well.

“Hey, what about me?” asked Draco, “I’m the one who literally dragged you out of there!”

“And screamed like a little girl in the process,” said Ron. Draco glared at Ron, but Hermione gave him a hug before turning towards Rolf and Neville and hugging them as well. Neville blushed bright red. 

“Thank you for saving me,” she said, addressing the whole group this time.

The sound of running footsteps caught their attention and suddenly Professor McGonagall came running into the bathroom, wand drawn. She was followed by Snape and a terrified looking Quirrell who let out a pathetic whimper at the sight of the unconscious troll.

“What is going on here? What happened?” snapped Professor McGonagall. Harry had never seen her look so angry, her eyes blazed and her mouth was pressed into a thin line, “Why didn’t you go to your dormitories? You could have been killed!”

“We’re well aware of that professor,” said Draco, receiving a death glare from McGonagall. Snape was also glaring at Draco, but Harry thought he could make out a thin trace of concern, and his eyes roamed over Draco as if searching for injuries. 

“Please, Professor, it’s not their fault, they were looking for me,” said Hermione.

The group quickly nodded.

“Hermione was in the bathroom when we heard about the troll so we came looking for her to warn her about it. We never expected to run into the troll,” said Harry. 

“It’s because of them that I’m alive,” continued Hermione, “When they got here it was about to finish me off. They didn’t have time to go get anyone; their quick actions saved my life.” 

There was a moment of silence as the group held their breath waiting for McGonagall to speak. 

“Well, in that case,” she started, “I’ll reward five points to each of you for helping save Miss Granger. If you’re not hurt, you should return to your dormitories. I will be telling the headmaster about this.” 

The group left the demolished bathroom, but were hesitant to part ways. 

“We could go to the kitchens and get some food,” said Rolf.

“You know where the kitchens are?” said Neville. Rolf nodded.

“Yeah they’re near the Hufflepuff dorms.”

They followed Rolf who lead them downstairs under the Great Hall. He stopped in front of a picture of a bowl of fruit. He then tickled the pear which caused the painting to swing open. They entered a huge kitchen being run by strange looking creatures. They were short and wrinkled, with large pointed ears. They all wore uniforms that looked a lot like pillowcases with the Hogwarts crest of a flying boar on them. Noticing that Harry was staring, Draco informed him that they were house elves.

They sat down in front of a large fireplace and were quickly surrounded by house elves bringing them found. They ate and chatted late into the evening before starting back to their dorms. Harry was reluctant to see Hermione go, especially knowing that Hermione was only in that bathroom because of her housemates hateful words. He wasn’t sure what they had said, but he didn’t want Hermione to have to face them alone so soon after everything that had happened.

As they were leaving the kitchens Harry turned to Hermione.

“Do you want to come with us to the Gryffindor dorm room?” Hermione looked surprise.

“Isn’t that against the school rules?”

“Actually,” said Draco, “I don’t think it is, at least not officially. It’s more of a house rule.”

“Why don’t you all stay the night in the Hufflepuff dorm?” asked Rolf, “It’s just around the corner.”

They agreed and Rolf brought them to a large pile of barrels. He then tapped the second barrel from the bottom to the rhythm of ‘Helga Hufflepuff.’ They walked through a sloped dirt floor passage into a cozy looking round common room. It was decorated in cheerful yellows and blacks that reminded Harry of a bumblebee. The tables were honey-colored wood surrounded by large, overstuffed yellow armchairs. There were plants everywhere. Curved shelves along the wall held waving and dancing cacti. Above the mantlepiece was a portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, the founder of Hufflepuff. She was holding a gold cup. Round windows showed fields of rippling grass and dandelions and despite it being night time, the windows showed daylight. Round doors led towards the boys and girls dormitories. 

Rolf went up to his dorm room and returned with pillows and a pile of quilts which he passed out to the group. They arranged themselves in the Hufflepuff common room, including Rolf, and they were asleep in no time.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

The weather had begun to turn cold in November. More snow could be seen on the surrounding mountains and the lake was beginning to freeze over. Every morning they awoke to frost on the ground. Harry froze at Quidditch practice until Hermione taught him a warming charm. The Quidditch season had officially begun and Harry’s first game against Slytherin was quickly approaching on the upcoming Saturday. The news that Harry was the new Gryffindor seeker had somehow gotten out to the disappointment of Wood.

This caused the number of people staring at Harry to increase. Draco looked even more smug, proud even, as if it was him who had made the team and not Harry. He proclaimed that it was due to him that Harry’s talents had been discovered and proceeded to tell this to anyone who would listen.

Harry was kept busy thanks to all of Wood’s last minute Quidditch practices. He was grateful for his friends, since they were able to help him finish all his assignments on time. They had started meeting up in the Hufflepuff dorms and the other Hufflepuffs were quick to accept them and became used to their presence in their common room.

The group had noticed that Snape had been limping since Halloween. Draco had tried to talk to his godfather to find out what happened, but Snape refused to say. Eventually Draco had simply burst into Snape’s office and caught sight of Snape’s bloody and mangled leg. According to Draco it looked like as though it had been bitten by something.

“Do you think it was Fluffy?” asked Neville, “He was headed in that direction.”

“He’s probably trying to steal whatever's being guarded!” said Ron.

“But why would he do that?” asked Draco, who didn’t want to believe such a thing about his godfather.

“We need to figure out what the object even is before we can start guessing why he might want,” said Rolf. The group had agreed to tell him about Fluffy and the mysterious object after the troll incident. Hermione nodded in agreement looking frustrated, Harry new that she spent most of her free time looking up possible magical artefacts, but had come no closer to narrowing the object down.

“Maybe if we went to see Fluffy,” started Rolf.

“No!” cried Ron, “I don’t care how good you claim to be with animals, that creature will eat us.” Rolf had become quite interested in seeing Fluffy after they had told him about the dog.

That night Harry went to sleep early in preparation for the Quidditch match, but his mind kept going back to the mysterious object hidden within the school. He felt like they had all the information in front of them and that they just needed to piece it together.

The next morning Harry woke up early. For once all the others were also up since they wanted to wish Harry luck before he had to go down to the Quidditch field with the team. Harry was nervous and his stomach was in knots, but Draco kept forcing food onto his plate and refused to let Harry leave until he had eaten every bite.

“I won’t have you falling off your broom from hunger,” he told Harry.

Before he knew it Wood had come over to collect Harry and his friends were wishing him luck, all except Draco, who told him he didn’t need luck since he had natural talent, and he was confident that Harry would catch the snitch, but that Slytherin would win the game.

Harry changed in the locker room with the rest of the Gryffindor Team. It was a bright, cold morning, good for playing Quidditch and he was beginning to feel more excited than nervous. Madame Hooch was refereeing and she stood in the middle of the field as the two teams walked out. The stands erupted into cheers at the sight of the teams and Harry looked up towards the Hufflepuff stand where he knew his friends were sitting because it was the closest to neutral territory as they could get since Draco refused to sit with the ‘enemies’ in Gryffindor today.

“I want a nice, clean game,” Hooch said once the teams had lined up in the center of the field. Harry noticed that she seemed to direct this at the Slytherin Captain, a massive sixth year named Marcus Flint.

Madam Hooch told them to mount their brooms, then the whistle was blown and the match began. Harry kicked off the ground and soared into the air with the other players. Harry soared high above the field and stayed away from the main action below, just like Wood had instructed him. He scanned the field searching for a flash gold.

He caught sight of it once and went streaking down towards it with the Slytherin's seeker, Terence Higgs, right on his tail. Harry had been reaching for the snitch when suddenly Marcus Flint was in front him, blocking him from the snitch and Harry struggled to control his broom. This earned the Slytherins a foul and the Gryffindors got a free shot at the goal posts which they made. But by then the snitch was long gone.

It was right after Harry dodged a bludger that it happened. His broom lurched forward almost throwing him off. Harry gripped the handle tighter, staring at his broom in confusion when it suddenly happened again. His broom was lurching and bucking through the air as if trying to throw Harry off. He held on for dear life as below the crowd pointed and yelled. Then suddenly he was in control again.

And that was when he caught sight of the snitch again. He went into a dive, plummeting towards the field as fast as he could go, He felt himself slipping on his broom as he reached forward. He hit the field and landed on all fours, but he had caught the snitch, in his mouth! He held up the golden snitch for everyone to see and Lee Jordan, the announcer called out the Gryffindor victory.

After the game Harry was swarmed by his friends and they ended up going to Hagrid’s for tea.

“It was Snape,” said Hermione, “He was cursing your broomstick.”

“That’s rubbish!” said Hagrid, “Why would he do something like that?”

“He was looking right at Harry and muttering something,” said Hermione, “To perform a curse like that one wouldn’t be able to break eye contact.”

Draco nodded, though he didn’t look very happy.

“I managed to distract him-”

“By throwing a hissy fit,” interrupted Ron.

“-and when he broke eye contact you gained control of your broom again.”

“I thought you were going to die!” chimed in Neville.

“But that still doesn’t explain _why_ Snape would do something like!” argued Hagrid.

Harry exchanged glances with the others before deciding to tell Hagrid the truth.

“We think Snape is trying to steal whatever Fluffy is guarding.”

“What?” said Hagrid, “That’s rubbish! Snape is one of the professors protecting it! And he wouldn’t attack any student, let alone Harry!”

That was the end of the argument as far as Hagrid was concerned and the group returned to the castle after finishing their tea.

“Here,” said Draco handing Harry a chocolate frog, “You played pretty well, though next time try not to catch the snitch with your mouth.”

“What did it taste like?” asked Neville.

“Exactly as you'd expect.”

“Magic?”

“Metal.”

“Oh.”

“Did you know that golden snitches used to be birds, but they started using metal snitches because the birds are now endangered due to Quidditch games,” said Rolf, “the seekers would crush them when they caught them.” Harry was grateful that he didn’t have to crush a bird.  

Harry opened his chocolate frog and looked at the card, he had gotten Dumbledore again. He read the information on the card which he only glanced at last time, too interested in the moving picture to give much attention to it. His eyes widened when he saw a familiar name and he stopped walking. After a second the others realized he wasn’t with them and walked back to him.

“Harry?” asked Neville, “What’s wrong?”

“Guys, who is Nicolas Flamel?”

“I remember him,” said Hermione, “I came across him in my research. Nicolas Flamel was an alchemist. He’s the only known maker of the Philosopher’s Stone, a legendary substance which can supposedly turn things to gold and create the Elixir of Life, which can make the drinker immortal. Why?”

Harry held up the card, “Because Dumbledore did work with him. I think that’s the object. I think Dumbledore’s hiding the Philosopher’s Stone for Nicolas Flamel.”


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Christmas was rapidly approaching. Snow now covered the school grounds and the lake was completely frozen over. Hagrid could be seen bringing massive pine trees into the school and Professor Flitwick used magic to decorate them. 

The group had started talking about going after the Philosopher’s Stone themselves. They thought about trying for it over Christmas break, but decided that that was too risky. With so many students gone, it wouldn’t be heard to realize that they were the ones to take it. So they decided to give it a go when they got back, they just hoped it wasn’t stolen before then.

When Draco heard that Harry was planning on staying at Hogwarts for the holidays he threw a fit. 

“I will not allow you to stay Potter! You  _ will _ come home with me!”

His voice left no room for argument, but that didn’t stop Harry from trying anyway. 

“I really don’t mind,” he told Draco, “It’s not as if I ever really celebrated Christmas with the Dursleys.”

“What do I need to do Potter? Are you going to make me give you a formal invitation, have it delivered by owl?” 

After two days of Draco demanding that Harry spend Christmas with him, Harry finally relented and agreed, which made Draco look very smug, as though he had just won a great victory. 

Harry boarded the train with the rest of the students going home for the holidays. The group found a compartment together and passed the time playing wizard chess, eating sweets and discussing the possible obstacles guarding the stone. And before they knew it the train had pulled into the station in London. 

They said their goodbyes and Harry went with Draco when they exited the train. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy were easy to spot with their blond hair and expensive looking robes. Mrs. Malfoy smiled and gave Draco a long hug which he struggled in vain to extract himself from. Then to Harry’s surprise Mrs. Malfoy gave him a hug as well.

“It’s nice to see you Harry, I hope this one hasn’t been giving you too much trouble.”

Harry grinned, “Nothing that I can’t handle. I hope you don’t mind me spending the holidays with you, Draco insisted.”

“No not all!” exclaimed Mrs. Malfoy, “You’re Draco’s friend, and as long as your friends you will always be welcome.” 

She glanced over at her husband who nodded.  

“Let’s go home,” she said, smiling at the two boys, “We’re going to apparate,” she told Harry, “Have you ever apparated before?” Harry shook his head.

“Well don’t worry,” she said with a reassuring smile, “all you’ll have to do is hold my hand and I’ll apparate us.” Harry nodded and took her outstretched hand even though he wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen. Next to him Draco took his father’s hand. And then they disappeared in front Harry’s eyes! Suddenly Harry felt a strange pulling sensation as if he was being dragged along at breakneck speed and then was suddenly brought to a halt. Harry stumbled, but Mrs. Malfoy kept him from falling with a hand on his shoulder. 

His eyes widened when he realized that they were no longer at the train station, but appeared to be in some sort of finely decorated entrance hall.

“Welcome to Malfoy Manor,” said Mrs. Malfoy. 

Draco spent the day giving Harry the grand tour of the manor, and manor was definitely the right word to describe it, the place was huge! Everything screamed wealth and power. 

Harry was given the guest bedroom next to Draco’s room. The room was huge and could have easily fit almost all of Privet Drive inside of it. It had tall ceilings with tall windows with a view of the grounds. The color scheme was green, silver, and black, colors that were seen prominently throughout the manor. The bed was massive and was the softest thing Harry had ever touched. Harry was beginning to understand why Draco complained about certain things at Hogwarts, since he had clearly grown up in luxury.

Harry and Draco spent the time playing games and convincing the house elves to give them sweets. They even braved the cold a few times to ride their brooms across the grounds.  

When Christmas morning arrived Draco woke Harry up bright and early. They went downstairs and ate a huge breakfast prepared by the house elves. Then they opened presents. Harry was shocked to see that his pile was as big as Draco’s. He had never received so many presents. 

From Hagrid Harry got a flute that Hagrid had obviously whittled himself that sounded like an owl when he blew into it. He also got a photo album with pictures of his parents. It was the first time he had ever seen photos of them. 

His aunt and uncle had generously sent him a fifty pence piece. Harry rolled his eyes at the present, but was curious how they managed to send it to him.

Ron’s mum had sent both Harry and Draco hand-knitted sweaters, which Ron had warned them to expect. Harry’s was an emerald green to match his eyes, while Draco’s was a darker green. She also sent them homemade fudge, which was very good. 

Ron had sent him and Draco each a box of Every Flavor Beans.

Hermione had also sent them both candy in the form of a large box of chocolate frogs. 

Rolf had sent them both a signed copy of  _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ , which was written by his grandfather, Newt Scamander. 

Neville had sent Harry a book about Quidditch and Draco a book about obscure and rare potion ingredients. 

From Draco, Harry received several Defense Against the Dark Arts books, a new bag that was enchanted to hold more and be as light as feather, with his initials already on it, and a pair of black Quidditch gloves made out of dragonhide. 

Harry realized that the books were all on subjects that he had expressed interest in and had wished Professor Quirrell had talked more about. The bag was similar to one he had seen at school that he had remarked about. Harry also remembered complaining to Draco about how his school Quidditch gloves were tight. 

“Clearly I should start complaining in front of you more, Draco,” said Harry, for clearly the blond had been paying attention to what he said.   

Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy gave Harry a set of Quidditch supplies with all the Quidditch balls and beater sticks. It came in a dark red leather case with gold trim. 

The Malfoys also gave both Harry and Draco new school chests. Harry’s chest was a deep red dragonhide with gold trim. Along the locks for the different compartments were rubies and his initials in gold were above the locks. Draco’s was a dark green with silver variation of Harry’s and he had emeralds instead of rubies. 

“They’re the newest model,” explained Mrs. Malfoy, “They weren’t out yet went Draco left for school so we had to wait to get him one and we thought that you would also find it useful Harry. It has multiple compartments, including one for your wardrobe, one for potion ingredients, one for your school items, a library, a potions lab, and an apartment. It has a feather-light charm on it and multiple security wards as well as charms against damage so it should last you for many years to come.”

Harry stared at the chest in wonder and marveled at how amazing magic was. He sincerely thanked the Malfoys, he couldn’t begin to imagine how much they had spent on it. 

Harry and Draco spent the rest of the day looking through their new books, eating sweets and organizing their new trunks. They finished the day with a Christmas feast, then stuffed with food and tired the two boys stumbled back to their rooms. When Draco paused in Harry’s doorway to say goodnight he caught sight of something on Harry’s bed.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Harry picked up the object, a package that was strangely light for its size, “I don’t know, it looks like another present. Where did it come from?”

“Maybe it came late so the house elves just put it in your room?” but Draco was frowning as he said this.

Harry opened the present and held up a silvery cloak. The material was cool against his skin and felt incredibly smooth. Draco reached out and touched the fabric. 

“I think it’s an invisibility cloak! Quick try it on!”

Harry did and Draco’s mouth dropped open, “What?” Draco wordlessly pointed to the room’s full length mirror. Harry looked and was shocked to see that he was invisible! He chuckled.

“Well I guess you were right about it being an invisibility cloak,” he said as he took it off.

“I’ve never seen one that good before, usually if you look close you can see the air shimmering slightly. Did it come with a note?”

Harry looked through the wrapping and found a piece of parchment. 

“Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you,” read Harry.

A mischievous grin appeared on Draco’s face as he stared at the cloak. 

“Imagine what we could use that for,” said Draco, a matching grin appeared on Harry’s face. This would definitely make things interesting. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

A few days before break ended Harry noticed the house elves decorating Malfoy Manor and asked Draco about it.  

“Oh, they’re just getting ready for the annual New Year’s Party. Didn’t I mention it?”

“No,” said Harry, “you failed to mention it.” 

“Oh,” said Draco, “well then, every year my parents host a New Year’s Party. I already invited the others. You have no choice, but to be there since you’re staying here.”

And sure enough on New Year's Eve the Malfoy Manor was flooded with people, including Harry and Draco’s friends. Members of high society mingled with people from the Ministry of Magic. Narcissa Malfoy swept through the halls in a beautiful silvery-gray dress, playing the role of the role of the perfect hostess, greeting each guest as they arrived. She insisted that Draco stay with her to help greet guests as the future Malfoy lord. Draco attempted to sneak away unsuccessfully several times, but it was his father who eventually came to his rescue, distracting his wife with questions about the food so Draco could sneak away.     

Happy to be reunited the group snuck away from the party to Draco’s room where they spent the evening discussing their plans for after the break; mainly obtaining the philosopher’s stone.

When they arrived back at school they did their best to act normally at the welcome feast, but they were all nervous. All except Ron had to force themselves to eat something. That night they were planning on going after the stone. 

They each went to their separate dorms and tired to get a few hours of sleep. Then at ten o’clock Harry, Ron and Neville hid under the invisibility cloak, cast a silencing charm on their shoes, and snuck out of Gryffindor Tower. They went to the third-floor and went into the last classroom before the room with Fluffy and the trap door. They unlocked the classroom door with an “ _ Alohomora _ .” Then locked it behind them. Harry then put the invisibility cloak in a bag that had been magically connected to several other bags so that any items placed in one of the bags could be accessed by any of the bags. This had been an idea of Hermione’s and she had been working on it for several weeks. 

Several minutes later three soft knocks came at the door and Harry unlocked it to let Rolf, who was hidden under the invisibility cloak, in. The process was repeated with Hermione and then Draco. Once Draco had joined them Harry put away the cloak and pulled out the flute Hagrid had given him. According to Rolf, who had snuck down to get a look at Fluffy despite the others protests, music would soothe the dog and put him to sleep, Harry sure hoped he was right. 

They cautiously opened the classroom door and seeing no one, they quickly made their way towards the locked door which Hermione unlocked again. She placed her hand on the handle and looked at the group. 

“Ready?” she whispered, everyone nodded. Harry held the flute to his lips and the others pulled out their wands. 

The door was pulled open and Harry immediately began playing a short tune he had practiced. After he had played through it once Hermione pointed her wand at the flute and recited a spell that she had also practiced that made the float continue to repeat Harry’s short tune again and again without him doing anything.

They slowly made their way into the room, closing and locking the door behind them. As they watched Fluffy’s eyes began to droop. They waited, barely daring to breathe, as they watched the dog finally collapse into sleep, each of its heads snoring loudly. Harry left the flute, which was still playing, on the ground so Fluffy would still be asleep when they came back. He then pulled out his wand.

They went to the trapdoor and discovered that one of Fluffy’s giant paws was on top of it. Using magic they lifted the paw away from the door and then with the help from a silencing charm they were able to open the trapdoor without making any noise. They peered into the darkness, but couldn’t make out anything about the room below them. 

“ _ Lumos _ ,” whispered Draco, conjuring a light at the tip of his wand. In the light cast from Draco’s wand they were able to make out some type of vine like plant.

“I know what that is!” whispered Neville, excitedly, “It’s Devil’s Snare! It’s strangles whatever it comes into contact with. All we have to do is remain calm, if we don’t struggle we’ll fall right through.”

“What if we can’t stay calm?” asked Ron.

“It doesn’t like fire,” said Neville.

“Well, let's do this,” whispered Harry.

Neville jumped in first and was quickly followed by the others with Ron going last. They were careful not to land on each other as they jumped down. 

Harry hit the plants with a soft thud. The vines were cold and damp and they immediately began moving around him, but he did as Neville had instructed and relaxed as much as he could. He felt himself moving down past the vines, darkness pressing in around him. He closed his eyes and focused on breathing normally. He felt himself come free from the vines and he dropped a couple feet down into a dirt tunnel. Neville and Draco were already waiting and Hermione and Rolf fell through a second later leaving just Ron still in the plants. 

“Just relax Ron, you’ll be fine,” Neville called up encouragingly. A couple seconds later Ron fell into the tunnel.

They walked down the tunnel which dripped water and sloped gently downwards. Harry began to hear some sort of buzzing noise ahead. The group exchanged glances and they gripped their wands tighter as they prepared for the next obstacle.

The passage led into a large, well-lit room with a high ceiling. Glittering birds flew through the air, making the buzzing noise. On the other side of the room was a heavy wooden door.

“Do you think they’ll attack us if we try to cross the room?” asked Ron.

“Probably,” said Draco.

Rolf squinted up at the birds, “I don’t think those  _ are _ birds…”

Neville gasped suddenly.

“They’re keys!”

Harry looked closer at the ‘birds’ and saw that they were right, they weren’t birds, but gold keys with wings. 

“One of those keys must fit in that door,” said Hermione.

“But which one?” asked Neville.

“Let’s try and get across to examine the door,” suggested Harry. The group sprinted across the room covering their heads with their arms, but the keys didn’t attack them.

Draco tried to unlock the door with magic, but it remained locked. He shrugged, “It was worth a try.”

“We’re looking for an old fashioned key, probably silver like the handle and it’d be pretty large,” said Hermione. 

“I wish we had a niffler,” commented Rolf, “A niffler would be able collect all those keys in no time.”   

“Hey, look over here!” said Draco. Harry saw that Draco had found broomsticks leaning against the wall. He grabbed one of the brooms, “Step aside Potter, it’s my turn! I’ll get the key and  _ I  _ won’t catch it in my mouth.”

Harry took one of the broomsticks.

“Bring it, Malfoy,” said Harry grinning as he mounted and kicked off the ground, Draco following him into the air. Draco flew right in among the keys while Harry hung back observing the keys, searching for the one they needed.  

“Draco! Grab the one on your left!” Draco’s arm shot out without even looking and his hand closed around a large silver key. Draco and Harry both landed and dismounted. Draco managed to wrestle the struggling key into the lock and turn it. The door opened with a click and Draco let out a whoop. 

“Did you see that catch Potter? That was a proper catch, unlike that thing you called a catch. You could learn a thing or two from me.”

“Remind me, who is on their house Quidditch team? And you only got the key because I pointed it out to you, Malfoy.” 

The boys grinned at each other before the group cautiously entered the next room. The room was dark, but when they walked in it was flooded with light. The room was taken up by a giant chessboard. They stood on the edge of the board behind the black pieces with the white pieces facing them from across the room. 

“Its wizard chess,” said Ron, “We must have to play our way across the room.”

“Do we just say where we want the pieces to go?” asked Hermione. 

“I think we have to be chessman,” said Ron. He walked up to a black knight and touched the knight’s horse. The knight came to life and turned to look at Ron.

“Do we need to join you to get across?” The knight nodded. Ron walked back to the group.

“Let me think about this for a minute.”

The others waited, knowing that Ron was the best chess player out of them.

“Okay, I think I have a general plan,” said Ron.

“Just tell us where you want us,” said Rolf and the others nodded. 

Ron arranged them on the board and they replaced the chess piece in that spot. Ron called out where they needed to go from where he sat on one of the horses as a knight. When either side lost a piece the statues would destroy each other. When this happened the group would flinch back imaging a stone fist hurtling towards them. 

After another black piece was destroyed Ron sat and contemplated the board for several minutes. 

“I have to sacrifice myself, it’s the only move left.”

There was a chorus of no upon hearing this.

“That’s chess!” yelled Ron, “Sacrifices must be made.”

“Let’s think about this,” said Draco, “maybe there’s some way we can protect him with magic.” 

“I don’t think we can just blast through them, what’s the point in playing otherwise,” said Hermione. 

“There’s no choice, I’m moving,” said Ron

“Wait!” said Neville, “At least try casting a shield.”  

Ron nodded and murmured a quick,  _ Protego Corporis _ , then his horse moved forward to meet the white queen. The queen raised her arm to strike and everyone held their breath. The stone came down hard on Ron’s shield causing the invisible shield to glow white at the contact. The shield halted the queen’s momentum, but then the shield fell. Ron attempted to slide backwards on the horse to avoid the majority of the blow, but the arm still hit his leg. Ron fell to the floor and left the chessboard with just a limp and a small cut on his forehead. Ron instructed the others where to move and the white king threw down it’s crown. They had won the game. 

Hermione was able to heal the cut on Ron’s head with a simple healing spell and Draco handed him a potion he had made to dull the pain in his leg, remarking that if it wasn’t for the shield his leg would definitely be broken. Before Harry opened the door to the next room he paused.

“So far we’ve faced a challenge from Hagrid with Fluffy, Professor Sprout was the devil’s snare, Professor Flitwick probably enchanted the keys, and Professor McGonagall transfigured the chessmen. That leaves Quirrell’s and Snape’s obstacles and Dumbledore probably made the last one.”

They went through the door and they were instantly hit with a horrible, and all too familiar stench. There wands wiped up as they caught sight of a troll even larger than the last one. 

“I’ve got it!” yelled, Rolf, “ _ Incarcerous _ !” 

Ropes burst from his wand and tied up the troll, which toppled over, his feet tied together.

“Yes!” cheered Rolf, “I knew that would come in handy!”

They levitated the trolls club and knocked it unconscious like they did to the troll in the bathroom. 

“Snape is next,” remarked Neville as they moved forward.

The next room contained a table with seven different bottles on it. As soon as they crossed the threshold into the room a purple fire sprang up blocking the doorway. Neville jumped in surprise at the sudden flames, bumping into Draco.

Black fire sprang up over the doorway leading out of the room, trapping them in the room.

“Listen to this,” said Hermione picking up a parchment on the table, she began to read aloud:

_ Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind, _

_ Two of us will help you, whichever you would find, _

_ One among us seven will let you move ahead, _

_ Another will transport the drinker back instead, _

_ Two among our number hold only nettle wine, _

_ Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line. _

_ Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore, _

_ To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: _

_ First, however slyly the poison tries to hide _

_ You will always find some on nettle wine's left side; _

_ Second, different are those who stand at either end, _

_ But if you would move onwards neither is your friend; _

_ Third, as you see clearly, all are different size, _

_ Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; _

_ Fourth, the second left and the second on the right _

_ Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight. _

 

Hermione was smiling by the time she finished reading.

“This isn’t magic, this is logic,” she said, “I can figure this out!”

The others watched her as she reread the parchment a few times then begin tapping the different bottles muttering to herself. 

“It’s this one,” she said triumphantly, holding up the smallest bottle.

“Are you sure?” asked Neville.

“Of course she’s sure,” said Draco, “She’s a Ravenclaw she wouldn’t say anything if she wasn’t sure, wouldn’t want to risk being wrong.”

Harry looked at the bottle uncertainly. 

“There’s only enough for one person.”

“Let me see that,” said Draco, “I think I know what this is. I can make more.”

“How?” asked Ron, “With what?”

Draco grinned and reached into his bag and pulled out his shrunken trunk.

“I came prepared.”

He unlocked the potion lab section of his chest and got to work.

“I know Snape,” he said, “and I know that this sort of potion can’t be a complicated one, otherwise it would lose its effectiveness overtime. Over the summer I saw him making these potions, but he wouldn’t tell what it was for. I assumed it was some sort of test he was going to make us do, you know identify the potion. So I made sure to figure out what the potions were beforehand so that I would have no problem identifying them.”  

“That’s not cheating or anything,” commented Hermione. 

Draco handed ingredients to the others with instructions of how to cut them and soon Draco was stirring a nearly completed potion. After letting it simmer for three minutes it changed into a dark purple color, the same as the potion in the bottle. 

They each drank some of the potion, then as one they ran through the flames. The flames were cold and Harry felt like his body was being covered in ice. For a brief moment of panic he thought that Draco had messed up and he was about to freeze to death in the strange cold flames, and then he was through. 

The room they entered was stone, with lit torches along the walls. The only item in the room was a large mirror, as high as the ceiling. It had an ornate gold frame and clawed feet. On the top there was an inscription,  _ Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi _ .

“What does that mean?” said Ron.

“You read it backwards,” said Neville, surprising the others.

“How do you know that?” asked Draco.

Neville shrugged looking slightly embarrassed.

“It’s a mirror, words appears backwards in mirrors.”

“He’s right,” said Hermione, “If you read it backwards it says, ‘I show not your face but your heart’s desire.” 

Harry frowned at this then stepped in front of the mirror and almost screamed. There were other people in the mirror with him! There was beautiful redheaded woman with green eyes. Behind her was a tall, thin man wearing glasses, with wild and messy looking black hair. Harry recognized those green eyes and that untameable hair, for he had both those features himself. They were his parents. Behind them stood other people with characteristics that Harry recognized. He realized that they must be members of the Potter family. 

He hadn’t realized that his friends had been calling his name until Draco grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

“I see my parents!” he said, his voice trembling slightly.

“What?” said Draco, “But that’s impossible. Sorry to break it to you Harry, but they’re dead.”

“I’m well aware of that Draco!”  

“Of course,” whispered Hermione in awe, “It’s just like the inscription says, ‘your heart’s desire.” 

“But how does that help us get the stone?” asked Rolf, “All I see is myself riding a dragon.” 

“A dragon?” said Ron, “That’s your heart’s desire?” 

Rolf shrugged, “What do you see?”

“I’m head boy and I’m holding the Quidditch cup!” 

“Yeah, because that’s  _ so _ much better than a dragon.” 

They began searching the room for any hints or clues on where the stone was, but the only thing there was the mirror. They searched behind the mirror and felt along its edges in search of a hidden switch or compartment, but they found nothing. 

They stood in silence staring at the mirror, none of them close enough to see their reflection, each lost in thought as they struggled to solve the problem. 

“This has to be Dumbledore’s protection,” said Harry, “the final line of defense, the final test. The stone is  _ here _ . Somewhere.” 

“Well,” started Hermione, “It’s about desire. Maybe you can only get the stone if you don’t desire anything?”

“But who doesn’t desire anything?” said Draco, “Nobody can be that happy, and that includes Dumbledore. He wouldn’t set up an impossible task that wouldn’t allow even him to retrieve the stone.” 

“Maybe, it’s about the stone,” said Harry, “you have to truly desire it. Dumbledore is called the head of the light. Someone who helped fight Voldemort, the dark. For him it's all about good and evil. What if this has to do with purpose? What if you can only get the stone if you’re intentions for it are pure. Good, not evil.”  

Harry stepped in front of the mirror again, but this time he focused his thoughts on the stone. He didn’t want to use the stone, just protect it. He wanted to protect it from falling into the wrong hands. He just needed a way to find the stone so he could protect it. He needed to do this to make his parents proud. To prove that their sacrifice wasn't in vain and that Harry would continue their fight against the dark. 

When he looked in the mirror he was alone, but nothing else happened. He thought he failed when the mirror him moved. Mirror Harry pulled out a red stone from his pocket then put it back into his pocket with a wink. At the same time Harry felt something heavy drop into his pocket. He turned to his friends, a huge grin spreading across his face. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the Philosopher’s stone. 

They stared at the stone in amazement. It was red and glassy looking and it easily fit in Harry’s palm. 

“That’s it?” said Draco.

“What were you expecting a giant ruby?” asked Harry teasingly.

“Well, yeah, or something like that.”

“Well it exceeded my expectations,” said Rolf, “I was expecting an actual stone.” 

“So this can turn things to gold?” asked Ron, and Hermione nodded, “Bloody hell. We’re rich!” 

“We’re not going to use it Ronald!” cried Hermione.

“But why not! At the very least we could turn Mrs. Norris to gold!”

“Wow, talk about animal cruelty,” said Rolf.

“It’s not cruel,” said Ron, “think about all the generations of Hogwarts students we’d be helping by getting rid of that bloody cat.”

“We are not getting rid of Filch’s cat Ron,” said Harry, “plus knowing Filch he’d probably get a whole hoard of cats.”

“I don’t care about gold,” said Draco, “but we could use this thing to become immortal! We could be like gods, people would come to use for wisdom.” 

“For people to come to you for wisdom, you first have to be wise,” said Hermione, “We should leave in case someone suspects something.” 

Harry put the stone in his bag and the group hurried back through the rooms, through the trapdoor, past Fluffy (grabbing Harry’s flute) and back into the main part of the castle. Without a word they all ended up in the Hufflepuff common room stretched across the furniture. Harry stared at the stone as it shined in the light. Why did Snape want the stone if he helped protect it? He couldn’t help but feel that there was another force at work here. Another player on the board who he wasn’t even aware of yet. But with the stone now out of harm's way, he silently vowed to find out once and for all what was going on at Hogwarts.


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

A couple weeks later the group sat at a table in the library. Hermione was studying for exams (it was never to early to start). Ron was supposed to be working on his transfiguration paper, but was instead watching Rolf sketch a dragon. Neville was reading a book about plants. He was trying to figure out what type of cacti were in the Hufflepuff dorm since none of the Hufflepuffs seemed to know. Harry had his head on the table staring into the distance, daydreaming about Quidditch. 

He was snapped out of his daydream by Draco, who had been searching the shelves for a book. 

“I got something that might interest you,” he said to Harry, “It’s a book about pureblood families. I thought you might be interested in looking into your family tree.” 

“Yeah,” said Harry, making room for Draco to sit down next to him. The two of them began flipping through the book scanning the family trees in search of Potter. 

“Here it is,” said Draco. 

Harry looked at the family tree Draco had indicated and was shocked to see his name at the bottom of the tree.

“How can I be in it?” he asked Draco.

“Magic, of course,” replied Draco, “the book acts as a record keeper; as children are born they’re added to their family tree. Wow, your descended from the Peverells!” 

“Who are they?”

“They were a powerful wizarding family, many believe that they’re descended from Godric Gryffindor. They’re also distantly related to the Gaunts who are descendants of Salazar Slytherin. Voldemort must have been related to the Gaunts because he was said to be the Heir of Slytherin.” Draco had begun saying Voldemort’s name because Harry refused to call him You-Know-Who.

“There are no Peverells left, the family survived, but the name died out. There weren’t enough sons born to carry on the name. Have you heard of the Deathly Hallows?”

Harry shook his head.

“I’ll be right back,” said Draco and disappeared back into the shelves. A little while later he remerged with a thin book, “I knew they had to have a copy somewhere.” 

He flipped through the book before handing it to Harry.

“Read this.”

Harry read through the story of the three brothers who managed to cheat death, then looked up at Draco.

“Okay, what is this about?”

“Well, this is an old children’s story, but some believe that it’s true and that the three brothers were the Peverell brothers, Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus.” He pointed to the names on the family tree as he spoke.

“See, you’re related to Ignotus, the only brother who had children. He was the one believed to have been given the cloak. Antioch was believed to have the Elder Wand and Cadmus the Resurrection Stone. But don’t you see, if this story is true that means your invisibility cloak is the cloak in the story.” 

Harry gazed at Draco in disbelief, the idea seemed ridiculous, but then again, Harry was currently sitting in the library of a school for magical children. Perhaps the idea of personified death handing out boons wasn’t completely insane. 

Harry flipped the page in the book with the family trees. The next page was for the Black family. Harry noticed that there were quite a few names that appeared as if they had been smudged out. He asked Draco about this. 

“Oh, they were disowned from the family. The Black family is an old and proud dark family and if you didn't fit their standards, you were out. I’m surprised that Sirius Black was never officially disowned.” 

“Why is that?” asked Harry.

Draco’s eyes widened in shock, “You mean you don’t know about Sirius Black?”

“Never heard of him. Who is he?”

Draco looked a little uncomfortable with the question and he hesitated before answering.

“He was sorted into Gryffindor, which was unheard of for the Blacks, since they were a family of Slytherins. Sirius Black was a friend of your father’s. They were in school together. But he betrayed your parents. He was a spy for Voldemort and he told him where your parents were. He’s the reason Voldemort found them that night in Godric’s Hollow.” 

Harry frowned.

“Hang on,” he reached into his bag and pulled out the photo album that Hagrid had given him and which he had taken to carrying around with him. He flipped through it until he came to a photo of his parent’s wedding. He pointed to his father’s best man, a handsome man with black hair and a wide, mischievous, but not malicious, looking grin. 

“Is that him?”

Draco squinted at the photo.

“I think so, I haven’t seen a lot of pictures of him, and the few I have seen make him look, well, deranged.”

“I’d been wondering about him, who he was. I was hoping that maybe I could someday meet my parents’ friends. Hear about my parents from them.” 

“You’re not angry?” asked Darco.

“At him? I honestly don’t know. I know I should be angry. But the truth is I know nothing about him, or my parents for that matter. It’s all just stories for me.” 

Draco frowned.

“Do you want to see if we can find any information on him?”

“Sure,” said Harry and the two got up and started browsing through the shelves. They found several books about dark wizards in the twentieth century and brought them back to the table. Harry began flipping through the books’ table of contents. He came across Sirius’ name in the third book and flipped to the indicated page.

“It says here that after he betrayed my parents he blew up a street killing twelve muggles and a wizard named Peter Pettigrew.” 

“I remember it now,” said Draco, “They said the only part of Pettigrew left was a finger.”

“A finger? How could there only be a finger? What happened to the rest of him?”

Draco grimaced.

“Well, it must of been a powerful spell and there was an explosion.”

“But bodies don’t just disappear, there would still be other,  _ things _ , even after an explosion.” 

“I don’t know what to tell you Harry, that’s all I know.”

“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Harry, “How could he have been their friend for years, stand up for them at their wedding and then betray them like that?”

“That’s the thing about betrayal,” replied Darco, “It isn’t betrayal if it doesn’t come from someone trusted, like a friend.” 

Harry frowned, deep in thought. He knew he should be mad at this man for betraying his family, for making him an orphan. But he was having trouble contacting the Sirius Black that Draco was telling him about to the smiling man in the photo. He felt like there was a disconnect between the two in his brain and maybe more information would help him to make the connection. 

“What happened to him?” he asked Draco.

“He was sent to Azkaban. That’s a wizard prison, nasty place guarded by dementors. Dementors are these wraith like creatures that feed upon happiness. They can steal someone’s stole with what’s called a dementor's’ kiss.”

“So he got a trial? Was found guilty and sent to prison?”

“He must have. There are probably records of the trial, we might be able to find a copy.” The two returned to the shelves pulling out handfuls of books on famous wizard trials and Azkaban. Draco also found a copy of the newspaper article about Black’s arrest and Pettigrew’s death. They moved their books to a table next to their friends in order to have more room to search. 

“I think I found the right book,” said Draco, “This one has copies of different trials going by the year. That’s strange.”

“What?”

“Well, I found the right time period for when Voldemort’s followers would have been arrested, but I don’t see them all. It’s missing trials for people who I know were sent to Azkaban for helping him, including Sirius Black.” Draco was flipping through the book as if in search of the missing trials.  

Harry leaned over to have a look.

“What does that say?” he pointed toward a smile footnote at the bottom of a page.

Draco squinted at the tiny writing.

“It says that trials were disbanded during war time. I bet that means most of the Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban without a trial. Maybe they were tried later.” Draco began flipping further back in the book. 

“When did the war actually end?” asked Harry.

“31 October, 1981, the night you defeated Voldemort.”

“But Sirius Black was arrested after that! He should have gotten a trial right away.”

“You’re right, and I’m not seeing trials for the other Death Eaters later on. I don’t think they ever got a trial. And that includes Sirius Black.”

“That’s not right!” cried Harry, getting a glare from the librarian. He lowered his voice, “There has to be someway to get Sirius Black a trial. What if he’s innocent? If there’s any chance at all that he’s innocent, even if it’s a slim one, I want to know. And if he’s found guilty, then at least I’d know for sure that the correct man is in prison for betraying my parents.”   

“I’ll send a letter to my father, he may know a way to get Black a trial or if the book is just wrong and he did receive one.” Draco quickly wrote the letter and the two practically ran to the owlery to send it. Now they would just have to wait. 

A few days later Draco got a reply from his father. They were at breakfast when the owls came in with the mail. A stately looking owl landed next to Draco and lifted its leg for Daroc to remove the letter. Draco quickly took the letter and read through it.

“Father said he did some research into Black. Apparently Sirius Black is your godfather, but that’s not all. According to your parents’ will Sirius Black was supposed to become your guardian if something should happen to both of them. But obviously he didn’t become your guardian because he was sent to Azkaban. He also made you his heir, and you still are, despite his imprisonment. So when you become of age you will receive all the Black estates and vaults.”

“That doesn’t seem like the type of thing someone who wanted my family dead would do,” commented Harry.”  

“No it’s not,” said Draco, “Father also says he knows nothing about Sirius Black receiving a trial, though it may have been kept quiet, though that seems unlikely considering how well known the case was. He says he can try and make inquires about Black, but he doesn’t think he’ll be able to push for a trial if it turns out he never received one.” 

Harry wasn’t surprised by that. He had done research into Voldemort and the wizarding war and knew that Draco’s father had been a Death Eater, even if he did claim to be under the control of the imperious curse. Which after meeting Lucius Malfoy, Harry found the idea of Lucius Malfoy doing anything against his will very unlikely to be true, if not outright ridiculous. But Harry hadn’t brought any of this up to Draco. He wasn’t sure how much Draco knew about his father’s past and he didn’t want to damage their friendship in anyway over something that he had no control over. After all, Draco was clearly not his father.

“What are you going to do now?” asked Neville. Harry had told his other friends about the research him and Draco had done into Sirius Black and they had agreed that he at least deserved a trial. 

“I’m not sure.” There was silence as everyone thought about it. 

“Goblins!” Hermione suddenly exclaimed.

“Goblins? What about them?” said Ron.

“Harry, you said that Sirius Black was supposed to be your guardian, right?”

“Oh, Merlin, that’s brilliant,” said Draco from next to him.

“I’m really confused,” said Harry, “How exactly is it brilliant?”

“Goblins are the ones who look into guardianship requests because inheritance is so closely linked to it. If you contacted Gringotts and requested a transfer of guardianship from your current relatives to Sirius Black the goblins would have to look into Black to see if he’s a fit guardian,” explained Draco.”

“And when they discover that he never had a trial, the goblins would have the authority to push the ministry into giving him one,” finished Hermione.

“But wait,” said Neville, “that means if he’s found not guilty he would be Harry’s guardian. Is that what you want Harry?” 

“I think so, I mean if he is innocent, he’s the guardian my parents wanted for me and it would be nice to get away from the Dursleys. And if he turned out to be awful I could just run away and spend the summer with one of you guys.” 

“Even if he’s found not guilty, he may not be found fit to be your guardian. We don’t what his mental state is like after so long in Azkaban,” commented Hermione. 

“Either way, I want to contact Gringotts,” said Harry. He pulled a piece of parchment and a quill. Draco helped him write the letter, he then passed it around for the others to read. Once they were satisfied with its wording Harry did as Draco instructed and pricked his finger, allowing a few drops of blood to fall onto the parchment next to his signature. He then said a spell that would keep the blood fresh. The goblins would use the blood to confirm that it was indeed Harry that wrote the letter. Draco then attached the letter to his owl’s foot along with a letter for his father. He then instructed the owl to go straight to the head goblin at Gringotts and no one else, before returning to Malfoy Manor. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven 

The next weekend found Harry celebrating the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s victory against Ravenclaw. They were in the Gryffindor common room and it was absolute chaos. The furniture had been pushed aside for the celebration and the Weasley twins kept letting off fireworks. Music blared from somewhere and everyone had to yell to be heard. People were playing games of exploding snap and someone must have gone to the kitchens judging by the piles of food on the tables.

Harry was enjoying the party along with his fellow Gryffindors, as well as Hermione, Draco and Rolf, who he had invited to join in the celebration.

He stayed up late into the night and woke up late the next day, glad it was a Sunday and that he had already done all his assignments for the coming week. He made his way down to the Great Hall and sat with Rolf and Hermione. They were eventually joined by the others. 

After eating a late breakfast they decided to spend the day roaming around the grounds as the weather was finally beginning to warm up. They were playing a round of exploding snap when Harry saw Hagrid walking across the grounds towards his house. He appeared to be carrying a large pile of books.

“Do you guys want to go visit Hagrid?” asked Harry when they had finished the game.

“As long as I don’t have to eat any of his rock cakes,” said Draco, “My jaw still hurts from the last one I tried to eat.” Neville made a noise of agreement.  

They walked over to Hagrid’s and knocked on his door. Harry was surprised to see that all the curtains were drawn closed. When Hagrid didn’t open the door, he knocked again.

“That’s odd, I just saw him go in a minute ago,” Harry raised his voice so he could be heard through the door, “Hagrid! It’s us, I know you’re in there, open up!”

A second later Harry saw one of the curtains twitch, then the door was opened, “What are you lot doing here?”

“We wanted to visit,” said Harry, “It’s been awhile since we’ve talked.”

Suddenly, Rolf gasped. He ran past Hagrid and went to the fireplace before Hagrid could stop him. 

“How did you get this?!” his voice was filled with a mixture of wonder and excitement, “It’s beautiful! It must have cost you a fortune!”

Hagrid sighed and let the others in it. They immediately joined Rolf by the fireplace. Sitting in the middle of the flames was a huge, black egg.

“That’s a dragon egg!” cried Draco, “They’re illegal to breed, however did you get it?”

“Won it in a card game last night down in the village,” said Hagrid, “I was havin’ a few drinks and got into a game with a stranger. I think he was glad to be rid of it.”

“Bloody hell,” said Ron, “I can’t believe it! What are the chances.”

“What kind of person carries around a dragon egg?” said Neville.

“What are you going to do with it when it hatches?” asked Hermione.

“Well, I got some books so that I can do some research,” said Hagrid, indicating the pile of books Harry had seen him carrying.

“You were right to put it in the fire,” said Rolf, “The mothers breathe fire on their eggs. When it hatches you’ll want to feed it a mixture of brandy and chicken blood every half hour. What you have here is a Norwegian Ridgeback, they’re venomous, so you’re going to want to be careful.”

Hagrid looked excited at this information.

“Hagrid,” began Draco, “are you  _ sure _ that you’ve thought this through? I mean, you do live in a  _ wooden house _ . Not exactly the best place to be raising a fire breathing dragon.” 

“I’ll be able to take care of Norbert just fine,” said Hagrid, sounding slightly defensive, although Hagrid had seemed to accept Harry’s friendship with Draco and had come to expect his presence when Harry visited him, he still seemed to not entirely trust the Slytherin. 

“That’s not what I-oh never mind,” said Draco, “Wait,  _ Norbert _ ? You already named it?” 

“Of course,” said Hagrid, “it has to have a name!” 

“I think Draco has a point about your house Hagrid,” said Neville, “Even if we found a way to fireproof it, it's not big enough for a dragon.”

“Yeah,” Rolf reluctantly agreed, “it will grow fast once it hatches. It’s going to need a lot of room to grow.” 

Harry turned to Ron, “Charlie!”

“No, I’m Ron,”

“No, your brother, Charlie, he works with dragons in Romania.”

“Yeah!” said Ron, “Hagrid, we can send Norbert to Romania with Charlie!”

Both Hagrid and Rolf looked heartbroken at this.   

“But...What about the forest?” said Rolf, “It would have plenty of room there and it could learn to hunt for food once it's older. And we can keep it hidden that way!” 

“We can’t keep a dragon hidden in the forest!” said Hermione, “Someone will find out eventually.” 

“We can train it!” said Rolf, “We need to at least try! This is my chance to ride a dragon, my literal heart’s desire!”

Hermione just gave an exasperated sigh and shook her head. 

Hagrid agreed that once Norbert was big enough they would bring him into the forbidden forest. If that didn’t seem to work they would contact Ron’s older brother Charlie, as a backup plan. Rolf promised to contact his grandfather and get some supplies to help them take care of Norbert.   

“I still can’t believe that Hagrid got a dragon,” said Harry as they walked back to the castle, “when we first met he told me he wanted one. I mean really, what’s the chances of running into someone with a dragon egg?”

“I can’t believe he’s going to name it Norbert,” said Draco, “I mean, what type of name is that? It hasn’t even hatched yet, what if it's a girl? Would he still name it Norbert? Because that’s just embarrassing.”

“Embarrassing for the owner or for the dragon?” asked Ron.

“Both.” 

A couple days later Harry received a letter from Hagrid that simply said, ‘It’s hatching.’ They immediately ran down to Hagrid’s, banging on his door. They were quickly let in and they crowded around the table where the egg sat. There was a clicking noise coming from inside the egg. Then suddenly there was a loud  _ crack _ , and a thin fracture appeared on the egg's surface. Everyone held their breathe as there was a long moment of silence. Then the egg split open and out came the baby dragon. It was black and thin, with its wings making up most of its body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of bronze colored horns on its head, and wide orange eyes. 

“Congratulations Hagrid,” said Rolf, “It’s a boy.”

The baby dragon peered around at them owlishly, then sneezed a few sparks, which would have set the table on fire if Harry and the others hadn’t cast fireproofing spells on Hagrid’s house and furniture. 

“He’s beautiful,” said Hagrid, reaching towards the dragon which snapped at his fingers, “Look, he knows his mother!”

“How fast will he grow?” asked Neville.

“Fast,” said Rolf, “He’ll start breathing fire around six months and he’ll be able to fly in twelve.” 

Rolf helped Hagrid feed Norbert for the first time. Rolf had gotten Hagrid a large pair of leather gloves that would protect him from sparks and from Norbert’s venomous fangs. Though Draco had also prepared an anti-venom potion, just in case. 

They all promised to visit as often as possible to help. They then reluctantly returned to the castle. By the end of the week Norbert had nearly tripled in size and was constantly blowing smoke through his nostrils. It was becoming apparent that he couldn’t stay in Hagrid’s house any longer. Hagrid however was reluctant to see Norbert go, even if he wouldn’t be that far away. 

“You can still visit him everyday,” promised Rolf, “We need to move him to the forest now so he can learn to hunt on his own.” 

Under the cover of night they snuck Norbert into the forbidden forest. They levitated the dragon who had spread his wings as if he were flying rather than hovering through the air. They lit the tip of their wands with  _ Lumos _ as they walked among the dark trees. Hagrid had been forced to stay behind because he was crying too hard, but he had sent his boarhound, Fang, with them. 

As they walked, Neville kept pointing to different plants and telling them there names and magical uses. Draco chimed in occasionally to comment about how the plants were used in potions.

“Why haven’t we come in here sooner?” said Draco, “I could restock most of my potion supplies with what’s growing in here.”

“Well, we’ll be spending a lot of time in here now,” said Rolf, “We’re going to have to visit Norbert and check on him often.” 

Eventually they decided on a wide clearing with a stream with fish running nearby. They set up a magical barrier around the area and placed rocks that they had painted runes on around the edge. The ruins would prevent the spell from fading. They had also each had a small stone with a rune that they kept on a necklace that would allow them past the barrier and allow them to locate the clearing. The runes had been Hermione’s idea. Although runes wasn’t a class first years could take, she had begun researching them at the library and had found the subject to be fascinating.

They left Norbert behind with a pile of dead chickens and a large bucket filled with brandy and chicken blood, then they began walking back to the castle. While they had been setting up the barrier Fang had wandered off in the direction of Hagrid’s house, no doubt wanting to go back and lay in front of the fire.  

“Hey guys, look at this,” said Neville, he was pointing his wand at a silvery substance on the ground. 

Rolf bent lower to examine it closer.

“I think...it’s unicorn blood! A unicorn must be hurt; guys we have to find it! It might not be too late to help it!”

They quickly spread out, wands aimed at the ground as they searched frantically for more unicorn blood.

“Over here!” cried Draco, “It looks like a trail!” They took off following the trail, hoping that they wouldn’t find a dead unicorn at the end.

“What can kill a unicorn?” asked Ron, “Do you think there are werewolves in the woods?”

“I haven’t read anything about werewolves in these forests,” said Hermione. 

“Werewolves aren’t fast enough to catch unicorns, said Rolf, “Most creatures wouldn’t kill a unicorn. In fact, I don’t know what would.” 

They kept walking deeper and deeper into the forest. The trees got larger and closer together, but the blood continued, the trail growing thicker. 

Harry’s eyes caught on something white on the forest floor ahead and his heart lurched. They were too late. The unicorn was dead. 

“No!” cried Rolf, his voice hoarse and filled with pain. He ran forward to the fallen unicorn. But Harry’s eyes caught sight of a dark shape detaching itself from the forest background.

“Stop!” he screamed, grabbing Rolf’s arm and yanking him back. His wand went up to point at the shadow which he could see was a figure in a black cloak, leaning over the unicorn. Harry realized that the figure had been drinking the unicorn’s blood. It rose to its feet and the others had their wands trained on the figure. It began to move forward, Harry opened his mouth to say a spell, when a sudden pain burst in his head, from his scar. He let out a cry of pain and clutched at his head.

“Harry!” yelled Neville, and he felt Rolf pull him further away from the figure, which helped a little with the pain, but not much. 

A group of arrows flew from the tip of Draco’s wand and Hermione sent a stream of red sparks towards the figure, but it raised its hand and with a wave, both spells were redirected around him. 

But that didn’t stop them from sending more spells at the figure. Hermione sent a bat-bogey hex at him followed immediately by a bombardo. Neville cried, “ _ Engorgio skullus _ !” A hex that caused the victim’s head to engorge. Draco sent another wave of arrows towards the figure followed by a confundus. Ron used the jelly legs jinx. Next to Harry, Rolf used the binding spell he had used on the trolls. Despite the pain in his head, Harry managed to use a spell of his own, yelling, “ _ Stupefy _ !” 

The figure managed to block some of the spells, but not all of them this time. The figure fell to the ground and Hermione quickly used a spell to put him in a full body lock. They stared at the figure in stunned silence, the only sound being their heavy breathing. It was Draco who broke the silence.

“Are you alright Harry?”

Before Harry could answer, a voice called to them. 

“What’s going on? Are you alright?”

A centaur galloped towards them, freezing at the sight of the dead unicorn and the unmoving figure. He had white-blond hair, stunningly blue eyes and a palomino body. 

“We’re fine,” said Hermione, her voice sounding slightly breathless, “we saw this,  _ thing _ , drinking the unicorn's blood, it must have killed it.”

“This is not the first unicorn that has been killed as of late.” 

The centaur moved closer to the group, his eyes landed on Harry.

“You are the Potter boy,” he said, “My name is Firenze.” 

Suddenly the figure burst into movement, Firenze leaped forward, hooves flashing and hit the figure in the shoulder making him stumble, but he managed to catch his balance and fled into the forest.

“We need to go after him,” cried Rolf.

“No,” said Firenze, “you must leave the forest. You are not safe here.” 

“But who was that?” asked Harry, the pain in his head receding. 

“Someone very desperate. Someone who is clinging to life and has been waiting to return to power for years.”

“Voldemort,” said Harry, knowing the moment he said it that he was right. 

“But that’s impossible!” cried Ron, “He’s dead!”

“Is he really?” said Harry, “I was a baby! I couldn’t have possibly defeated him, I know my parents must have done something, but Voldemort was a dark lord, my parents weren’t prepared! What if they just weakened him?” 

“We need to get back to school,” said Hermione, “we can continue this conversation once we’re safe.”

“I’ll lead you out of the forest,” said Firenze. They followed him, using the their wands to light the way. Once they got to the edge of the forest he bid them farewell and left them. They hurried back to the school and headed to the Hufflepuff dorm, being careful to avoid Filch and his cat.

“I can’t believe he’s alive,” said Neville, “Where has he been all these years?”

“He must be really weak to be drinking unicorn blood,” said Rolf, “Unicorns are pure, sacred even. Killing a unicorn and drinking its blood will help keep you alive, but not only is it vile, it would curse the drinker.” 

“But that’s where the stone would come in,” said Harry, “with it Voldemort could drink the Elixir of Life, which would not only help restore him, but allow him to become immortal if he continued to drink it.”

“What if that’s why Snape wanted the stone? To give it to You-Know-Who,” said Ron.

“I still don’t know,” said Draco, “I know that he was accused of being a Death Eater, but Dumbledore defended him. He said that he was a spy working for him to help defeat Voldemort.” 

“What if we’re going about this wrong?” said Harry, “Let’s think for a moment, what if Snape really wasn’t trying to steal the stone, but protect it. He could have gone to check that the stone was safe on Halloween. He may have thought that it was the troll guarding the stone that had gotten loose. But when he went to check, he was bitten by Fluffy, who isn’t exactly a tamed beast and he probably wasn’t prepared to use music to put him to sleep.”

“But what about the Quidditch match? It looked like he was cursing your broom,” said Ron.

“Countercurses also need eye contact,” commented Draco.

“You did make a rather large scene, Draco,” said Rolf, “Snape wasn’t the only person there who was distracted by it.” 

“That means someone else at the match was after the stone,” said Hermione, “but whoever it is doesn’t know it’s no longer there. We need to keep an eye on the third floor corridor and see if we can catch them in the act.”

“I think Snape is already suspicious of someone, and that’s also why he immediately went to check on the stone on Halloween. He suspected someone at Hogwarts was after it,” said Draco.

“I think it has to be a teacher,” said Harry, “at the welcoming feast my scar hurt like it did tonight when I looked at the teacher’s table. At the time I had assumed it was somehow caused by Snape because I was looking at him, but what if it was caused by someone else?”

“And why does your scar hurt?” asked Draco.

“I don’t know,” said Harry, “but I think it was because I was near Voldemort.”

“But if being near You-Know-Who makes your scar hurt, why did it hurt in the Great Hall?” said Ron. “You weren’t anywhere near him then.”

“Maybe it has to do with being in the presence of dark magic?” asked Neville.

They sat and contemplated the problem for a little longer until they were too tired to stay awake and eventually drifted off to sleep. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

The next day was a Sunday and despite their late night the group woke up earlier than usual for their day off. Harry’s thoughts about Voldemort were put on hold when an owl from Gringotts arrived with a letter for him. He frantically opened and read through it.

“Well, what’s it say?” asked Ron, as he piled sausage onto his plate. 

“They’ve agreed to look into Sirius’ case for guardianship. They’re working on getting him a trial this summer! They have offered to arrange a meeting between the two of us before the trial, under their protection, so we can both sign some papers.”

“That’s great!” said Hermione, “When can you meet with him?”

“It says the meeting is today at one.”

“But don’t they realize that you're a Hogwarts student?” she asked, “You can’t leave school grounds!”

“I’m sure they’re well aware that he’s a student, Hermione,” said Draco, “they just don’t care. They’re goblins.” 

“Maybe you can get permission to leave,” said Neville.

“That would never work,” said Rolf, “What teacher would give him permission to leave school to meet with a convict? What we need to do is sneak off school grounds. Then we could call the Knight Bus to bring us to Diagon Alley and then back to school.”

“Didn’t Fred and and George mention that they found a passage that brings you to Hogsmeade?” asked Neville.

“Yeah,” said Ron, “I’m pretty sure they know a couple passages that lead out of the school, but I probably shouldn’t be the one to ask.”

“But you’re their brother,” said Neville.

“And that’s exactly why they wouldn’t tell me. You should ask them Hermione. They think you’re such a stickler to the rules that they would probably just tell you out of shock and think that they’re corrupting you.” 

Hermione ruled her eyes at this, but she got up and walked over to the Gryffindor table. She came back a minute later, grinning triumphantly.

“Well, come on,” she said, “we need to get going if you’re going to make it on time to the meeting.” 

They followed Hermione to a statue of a one-eyed witch by the stairs near the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She pulled out her wand and tapped the witch’s hump and said, “ _ Dissendium _ .” 

The hump on the statue opened up just wide enough for someone to slip through. They each slipped through the gap keeping an out for any teachers or students. They ended up in a narrow dirt passage that they had to travel single file through.

“Where exactly does this lead?” asked Draco.

“To the basement of Honeydukes,” answered Hermione.

“Honeydukes!” said Ron excitedly, “We should get some candy!”

“We won’t have time,” Hermione informed him, “Harry can’t be late for his meeting.”

“Maybe on the way back,” said Rolf hopefully.

After walking for several minutes they came out into a basement filled with wooden crates. 

“How should we do this?” asked Draco, “We can’t be seen walking out of the basement.”

“We won’t be seen,” said Harry pulling out his invisibility cloak, which he carried around in his bag, “we can go three at a time, we just need to be careful not to let anyone see the door open on its own and we better use silencing charms as well.” 

Once they cast silencing charms on themselves, Harry, Draco, and Neville pulled the invisibility cloak over themselves and climbed the stairs leading to the shop door. Harry was glad to see that the door wasn’t entirely closed and he was able to peek through it.

The shop was crowded, filled with Hogwarts third years and up who were able to leave Hogwarts to visit Hogsmeade. In the commotion they were able to slip through the door, leaving it slightly ajar for the others, and made it out of the shop without bumping into anyone. 

Once out of the shop they ducked into a small alley and removed the cloak. Harry put it in the enchanted compartment in his bag that his friends could access. A few minutes later they were joined by Rolf, Ron, and Hermione. 

Rolf stuck out his wand hand as if hailing a taxi and suddenly a large, purple triple-decker bus appeared. They boarded the bus and told the driver they needed to go to Diagon Alley. If he noticed that they were Hogwarts students, he didn’t comment. The bus took off at a breakneck speed and they discovered that the seats weren’t actually bolted down and they found themselves holding on for dear life as they slide around the bus. 

But despite feeling as though they might crash at any moment, and poor Neville turning rather green, they were able to make it to Diagon Alley in record time. As they left the bus, Draco paid the bus’ conductor, Stan Shunpike, the eleven sickles for each of them. 

As they walked through Diagon Alley, Harry noticed Neville eyeing Ollivanders as they walked past. 

“Are you remembering getting your wand?” asked Rolf.

“I never got a new wand,” said Neville, surprising them, “My gran insisted that I use my father’s wand.” The group exchanged glances at this, though Neville had improved greatly with their help, he still often times had difficulties with casting spells.

“How suited are you to that wand?” asked Draco, knowing that a wizard’s wand had to choose them to get the best results.

“It’s alright,” said Neville.

“That’s it,” said Draco, “we are getting you your own wand. Right now. You too Ron.” Ron had gotten his brother’s old wand. 

“That could take a while,” said Hermione, “Harry, how about you go to Gringotts and we’ll meet up with you after.”

“We can meet at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour,” suggested Rolf, “that way if the meeting went well we can celebrate, but if it went bad, ice cream helps make everything better.” 

They agreed and Harry left them at the wand shop and walked to Gringotts. Gringotts Bank was an impressive sight, a large snowy white building made of marble with large columns. Harry passed through the bronze gates and walked up to an unoccupied goblin teller. The goblin didn’t even glance at Harry as he walked up. Draco had told Harry that that was normal behavior for goblins, since they weren’t very fond of wizards. 

“Excuse me Ragnok,” said Harry politely, “My name is Harry Potter, I have a meeting with Sirius Black about him becoming my guardian at eleven o’clock.” 

The goblin looked at Harry with surprise and Harry wondered how many wizards bothered to read the placards with the goblins’ name. Ragnok quickly got over his surprise and pulled out a small piece of parchment and a knife and passed it to Harry. Without needing to be told what to do, Harry pricked his finger and placed several drops of blood on the parchment before handing both back to Ragnok. 

The goblin examined the blood for a moment before motioning another goblin forward.

“Take Mr. Potter to meeting room three.” Harry followed the goblin to a small room with wood paneling. Inside the room was another goblin who stood at a table sorting through paperwork. Two wizards that Harry assumed were aurors stood in the back, their wands out. They didn’t look very happy to be there.

In the middle of the room sat Sirius Black. He was thin and pale with long matted dark hair. He wore ragged prison clothes and his hands and feet were shackled together and the shackles were in turn attached to his chair. But despite his appearance, his grey eyes lit up with wonder at the sight of Harry.

Harry sat down in the only other chair in the room which was several feet away from Sirius. They remained silent as they waited for the goblin to finish going through the paperwork. Once he was ready the goblin introduced himself as Griphook and said that he would be handling the case of Harry’s petition for Sirius’ guardianship. He explained how they would first have to both sign documents stating that Sirius was Harry’s chosen guardian and that Sirius was willing to take up this position. If signed then they would continue to proceed with setting up Sirius’ trial date and that the outcome of the trial would determine whether or not Sirius would be allowed to become Harry’s guardian. 

“Would it be possible for me to speak to my godfather alone?” asked Harry. The aurors looked very uncomfortable with this, but Griphook agreed and all three left the room leaving Harry alone with Sirius.

Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times as if not sure how to start. 

“You look just like your father,” said Sirius eventually, “but you have your mother’s eyes. But I’m sure you’ve heard that before. I had bought you a little leather jacket when you were a baby. I had wanted to take you out on my motorcycle, but your mother refused. Said that you were too young. 

“I don’t care what you’ve heard about me, but I never betrayed your parents. I loved them.” His voice sounded sincere and stared into Harry’s eyes as if begging him to believe him. 

“Then can you tell me what happened the night my parents died?” 

Sirius closed his eyes with a sigh, his face lined with grief, making him looking older than his thirty-two years. 

“There had been a prophecy stating that the child of two of Voldemort’s enemies who had defied him three times and who was born in the summer would be capable of defeating the dark lord. We new that you and the Longbottoms’ son fit that description. Voldemort found out about the prophecy, so Dumbledore told your parents that the best way to keep them safe was to use the Fidelius Charm. The Fidelius Charm is an ancient spell that conceals a secret in someone's soul. This person is the Secret Keeper. Dumbledore cast the Fidelius Charm so that only the Secret Keeper would know where your parents were. 

“I was the Secret Keeper originally, because I was willing to die for your parents rather than give them up. But everyone knew how devoted I was to them and that I was the obvious choice for their Secret Keeper. I realized that every Death Eater would target me to try and get the information. I would never give up their location willingly, but there are ways to make people talk, such as veritaserum. So Peter Pettigrew offered to become the new Secret Keeper and your parents agreed.

“But it turned out that Peter was a traitor. He went straight to Voldemort and told them your location. By the time I arrived in Godric’s Hollow your parents had already been killed. I was going to take you, but then Hagrid showed up. Dumbledore had sent him to get you, so I gave you to him and gave him my motorcycle. I should have stayed with you, but instead I went after Peter. I was so angry, I wasn’t thinking straight. When I confronted Peter about his betrayal on a muggle street, he began yelling, asking me how I could betray Lily and James! He then cut off his finger, blew up the street killing those muggles, and disappeared into the sewer with the other rats.”

“What do you mean, other rats?” interrupted Harry.

“Oh, sorry, I knew I was forgetting something,” said Sirius, clearing his throat, “When we were in school, me, your father, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were very close. We called ourselves the Marauders. But Remus was a werewolf and when we found out, we decided to go through the animagus transformation so that we could stay with him when he changed, since werewolves don’t attack animals. 

“Remus had the nickname Moony. Your father was Prongs because his animagus form was a stag. I can turn into a black dog so my nickname was Padfoot. Peter was Wormtail, because he could turn into a rat.

“Anyway, by the time the aurors arrived I guess I was in shock. I all I could do was laugh. They must have thought I was mad. Next thing I knew I was thrown in Azkaban.” 

Harry sat in stunned silence once Sirius finished his story. Sirius was staring at him pleadingly, “I know how it sounds,” he said, “but it’s the truth.”

“I believe you,” said Harry, and he realized that he did. Sirius sagged with relief at his words. 

They were interrupted then by a knocking at the door. Harry got up and answered it letting Griphook and the two aurors enter the room.

“My apologies for interrupting Mr. Potter, but I’m afraid Mr. Black is only allowed to be here for a limited amount of time. Are the two of you willing to sign the documents?”

Both him and Sirius’ said yes and Griphook pulled out a parchment and instructed them both to sign and add a few drops of their blood to the paper. 

“I’ll you see you soon,” Harry told Sirius, who smiled at him as Harry left.

Harry made his way to the ice cream shop where he found his friends eagerly waiting for him. 

“How did it go?” asked Draco.

“It went well didn’t it?” said Hermione, “I can tell it went well!”

They each ordered ice cream and sat at a table outside. Harry told them the story Sirius had told him. By the time he was finished they were all staring at him in stunned shock. Neville had even forgotten to eat his ice cream as he listened and Hermione had to use a spell to refreeze it for him. 

“That’s bloody insane!” said Ron and the others nodded in agreement.

“But even though it sounds crazy,” said Hermione, “It fills in a lot of gaps.”

“I believe him,” said Harry.

“Then it’s settled,” said Rolf, “we need to make sure that Sirius Black is found not guilty.” 

“But how?” asked Draco. “We’ll need to find a way to back up his story.” 

“Well Dumbledore will be able to confirm the use of the Fidelius Charm, but we have no way to prove that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper when the Potters were betrayed,” said Hermione.

“What about Peter Pettigrew?” suggested Neville, “He’s probably still alive, if we can find him then that would at least cast suspicion on him and free Sirius of the charge of killing him.”

“We could also try to allow them to use veritaserum on Sirius at the trial,” said Draco, “then we wouldn’t even need Pettigrew to prove that Sirius is telling the truth.” 

“Hey, Ron, isn’t Scabbers missing a toe?” asked Rolf suddenly.

“Yeah, has been since my brother Percy found him,” said Ron, “Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

“When did Percy find Scabbers?” said Hermione.

“Around ten years ago.”

“That’s a long time for a rat to live,” said Rolf.

“What are you suggesting?” asked Neville.

“He’s suggesting that scabbers is Peter Pettigrew in his animagus form, aren’t you?” said Draco.

Rolf nodded and Ron went pale. 

“We need to get back to Hogwarts right now!” said Neville.

They called the Knight Bus again and ran back to school as fast as they could and immediately headed towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Ron ran up to his dorm room and came back with Scabbers in his cage. 

They studied Scabbers, but he looked like a regular rat that just happened to be missing a toe. 

“Does anyone know which finger was recovered?” asked Neville. Everyone shook their heads.

“Let’s go see Professor McGonagall,” said Hermione, “She’s an animagus, maybe she knows a spell that can force an animagus back into its human form.” They hurried to Professor McGonagall’s office all frantically knocking on the door until McGonagall called for them to come in. When they opened the door they all want stumbling in, crashing into each other as they all tried to go through the doorway at the same time. 

“Goodness,” said Professor McGonagall, as they all but ran up to her desk once they managed to get in, “What seems to be the problem?”

“No problem Professor,” said Hermione, “but we wondering since you’re an animagus, is there a spell that can force an animagus to return to its human form?” 

McGonagall seemed surprised by this question.

“Now why would you want to know that?’

“No particular reason Professor,” said Harry.

She stared at the group for a moment before shaking her head in a resigned manner. She really needed to start considering early retirement. 

“You would probably want to use the Homorphus Charm.” They thanked her and then ran out of the office, Neville running into the doorframe in his haste, leaving behind a very confused Professor McGonagall. 

They ran outside to the forbidden forest. They quickly made their way to where they had left Norbert, pausing to grab the dragon another bucket of whiskey and chicken blood from Hagrid. The dragon greeted them happily when they arrived, blowing smoke out his nostrils and allowed Rolf to scratch him under his chin.  

Hermione stunned Scabbers who was running around his cage frantically, before Ron took him out and placed him on the ground. Rolf had to place a restraining hand on Norbert to stop him from running forward and eating the rat.

“Let’s all try the spell together,” suggested Harry. They all pointed their wands at the rat and there was a flash of blue light and suddenly Scabbers was gone, and in his place was a short, balding man with features that still reminded Harry of a rat and he wondered if the man had always looked like that or if spending so long in his rat form had altered his human appearance.

The man jumped up and tried to run, but found six wands pointed at him and a growling dragon. 

“Hello, Peter,” said Harry.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

                   For the next couple weeks they kept Peter Pettigrew in the forbidden forest inside their barrier. They had instructed Norbert to not eat him, although the dragon did seem to enjoy terrorizing the man. Pettigrew spent most of his time in a tree he had somehow managed to climb to get away from the dragon. Norbert would allow Pettigrew to scramble up the tree, and would then lay down in front of it and take a nap, trapping Pettigrew in the tree since he was too afraid of the dragon to come down with it so close.

Each day they brought him food from the Great Hall and each day Pettigrew would beg them to let him go. After they started stealing food from the hall, the house elves must have somehow caught on, because everyday no matter where they sat for dinner, an extra plate with plain chicken and rice would appear next to them. Each day they took the plate of food out to him and returned the empty plate the next day in exchange for a full plate. 

They would also bring food for Norbert, but as the days past they brought him less and less as he learned to hunt for his food. It was a good thing Norbert was no longer living in Hagrid’s hut. The dragon was now the length of Hagrid’s house and went just past Harry’s shoulders. 

One night as they were walking back to the castle they heard voices coming from ahead of them. They slowed down to listen.

“...d-don’t know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus…” 

“Oh, I thought we’d keep this private. Students aren’t supposed to know about the Philosopher’s Stone, after all.”

Their eyes widened and they attempted to get closer.

“Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid’s yet?”

“But-b-but Severus, I-”

“You don’t want me as your enemy, Quirrell.”

“I-I don’t know what you-”

“You know perfectly well what I mean.”  

They began inching away slowly not wanting to get caught as they heard the two voices moving closer to their position. Once they got to the edge of the forest they ran back to the castle. 

“That was Snape and Quirrell!” said Ron.

“Is Quirrell trying to steal the stone?” said Neville.

“If we’re right about Snape not being the one trying to steal it, it sounds like it,” said Hermione.  

“But  _ Quirrell _ ?” said Draco, “How is he possibly a threat? And are we saying that  _ he _ works for  _ Voldemort _ ? He’s the last person I’d suspect, not that I want to go back to suspecting my godfather.”

“But maybe that’s the point,” said Rolf, “nobody would suspect him.” 

“Maybe we should talk to Dumbledore,” said Hermione.

“And tell him what?” said Draco, “Oh, by the way we think Quirrell is working for Voldemort and is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, which we found out was being kept in the school and then proceeded to steal it ourselves.” 

“That does sound pretty bad,” said Neville. 

“Maybe we can sneak into Quirrell’s office, have a look around?” said Rolf. 

“It’s worth a shot,” said Harry, “let’s go now before he gets back.”

They went to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and finding it unlocked they entered. 

Draco and Harry began searching through Quirrell’s office while the other’s searched the classroom.

“There’s nothing here,” remarked Draco, “All I’ve found are some papers he’s grading and cloves of garlic.”

“W-what are y-you d-d-doing here?”

Harry looked at Draco, eyes wide, Quirrell’s voice had come from the classroom. Harry quickly pulled out his invisibility cloak from his bag and pulled it over him and Draco before Quirrell could see them in his office. 

Out in the classroom Harry could hear Hermione telling Quirrell that they were looking for Neville’s toad. 

Harry and Draco began making their way out of Quirrell’s office, when suddenly Harry’s scar began hurting. He gritted his teeth and grabbed his head. Draco grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the office, where the pain receded a little.

“It’s Quirrell,” he whispered, “it must be.”

“What should we do?” whispered Draco, he sounded concerned.

“We end this,” Harry looked straight at Draco when he said this and the blond straightened his shoulders, concern vanishing to be replaced by determination. He gave Harry a nod and then they both stepped out from underneath the invisibility cloak and into the classroom, wands at the ready.

A blast from Draco’s wand slammed the classroom door shut and immediately the others pulled out their wands and pointed them at Quirrell. Quirrell stared at them in shock, his eyes comically wide. 

“W-w-what a-are y-y-you d-d-doing?”

“Give it up Quirrell, we know that you’re Voldemort and that you're after the Philosopher’s stone,” said Harry.

Quirrell stared at them for a moment, then his mouth twisted into a grin that looked more like a grimace. 

“I should have known it would be you to figure it out Potter,”

“So you admit it,” said Harry, “you are Voldemort.”

“Not quite.”

“Let me see the boy,” the voice was cold and raspy, and it came  _ from Quirrell _ . 

“Master, you don’t have the strength!” Quirrell told the voice.

“I have enough strength...to do this.” Quirrell reached up and began unwrapping his turban. Harry was rooted to the spot, he had no idea what was happening. What was Quirrell doing? He didn’t know whether to wait and see what would happen or to try and use magic on Quirrell to stop him. Around him his friends also did nothing but stare. 

The turban fell away, then Quirrell turned around.

Neville made a strangled sounding noise. Rolf gagged. Hermione gasped. Ron let out a terrified “Bloody hell!” Draco looked like he was going to be sick. Harry could do nothing but stare in horror.

Because on the back of Quirrell’s head was a face. It was a hideous face, bone white with blood red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake. 

“Harry Potter,” whispered the voice.

“Voldemort,” answered Harry. Somehow his voice sounded strong and he stood his ground, readjusting his grip on his wand, preparing to fight his way out.

“Look what I’ve become,” said Voldemort, “because of you. A mere shadow of my former self. Without a body, forced to live off another like a parasite, but not for long. The unicorn blood has strengthened me and with the Elixir of Life I will be able to recreate my body...Now, give me the stone.” 

He knew. Voldemort knew he had the stone. He saw no point in denying it.

“You’ll never get the stone,” said Harry.

“We got the stone when you failed,” said Draco, “How does it feel to have been bested by a group of eleven and twelve year olds?” 

Voldemort looked at Draco, his eyes raking over him.

“You are Lucius’ son, and yet you side with the Potter child.”

“Yeah,” said Draco, “he’s my friend. I’m proud to stand with him. We all are.” 

“Then you better be prepared to die, seize the boy!”

Quirrel lunged at Harry so fast, no one had time to react. Quirrell grabbed Harry’s arm, his fingers wrapped around his wrist and suddenly Quirrell screamed and recoiled. He held up his hand to look at it and Harry saw that it was covered in blisters.

“Seize him!” yelled Voldemort, “Kill him!”

Quirrell reached towards Harry again, but Harry didn’t give him the chance, he hurtled himself at Quirrell, his hands outstretched. He pressed his hands against Quirrell’s face, his neck, any bare skin he could reach. Harry’s scar burned, but he clung on to Quirrell as Quirrell’s skin burned and blistered under his hands. 

As Harry watched Quirrell collapsed to the ground, unmoving. He was dead.

Harry stumbled away, feeling weak and drained, his scar hurt. He felt an arm steadying him, Draco. Then a vial was being pushed into his hand and Draco was telling him to drink it, that it would help with the pain. He drank the potion and felt warmth spread through his body, energy returning to his limbs. The pain in his head turned into a distant stinging sensation. 

“I’m alright,” he told the others, who had gathered around him in concern. 

“What just happened?” asked Ron, “Was that really Voldemort?”

“It was,” said Harry, “but I don’t know what happened. I have no idea how I did that.”

“Wait until I tell my father about this,” said Draco.

“That may not be the best idea considering that he was a Death Eater,” said Ron.

“True. On second thought, I won’t tell him.” 

“So,” said Neville, “does that mean when Fred and George enchanted those snowballs to hit Quirrell’s turban, that there were hitting You-Know-Who in the face?”

There was a moment of silence before they all burst out laughing. 

“Wait until we tell them!” said Ron, “They’ll be so proud of themselves!” 

Draco cautiously approached the body and flipped him over. He gasped.

“He’s gone! Voldemort’s gone!” And just like Draco said, Voldemort was gone, there was no longer a second face on the back of Quirrell’s head. 

“Guys, we have to go to Dumbledore,” said Hermione. They agreed and they made their way to the headmaster’s office, deciding on just what they would tell Dumbledore along the way. 

Harry told Professor Dumbledore most of the truth. He told him about how they had discovered that the Philosopher’s Stone was being kept in the school and how they suspected someone was after it. He told him about how they took the stone after Christmas break to protect it. He told him about how they grew suspicious of Quirrell and the resulting confrontation with Voldemort and Quirrell. Harry left out any information about Norbert and he lied and told the Professor that they had destroyed the stone, deeming it too dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. 

Dumbledore was visibly troubled at the news of Voldemort’s return, but didn’t seem surprised by it. He told the students that if they weren’t hurt they could return to their dorms. The potion Draco had given him had worn off and Harry felt as though his limbs were slowly dissolving into mush. They went to the Hufflepuff dorm and Harry quickly fell asleep.

The last few weeks of school went by rather uneventfully after that. Hermione forced them on study schedules to prepare for their final exams and she barely left the library, even for food. Harry passed his finals with flying colors and so did the others, with Hermione at the top of the class. 

Slytherin won the House Cup, which made Draco remark about how he must tell his father. Draco was very smug until Neville pointed out that he had spent no time with the Slytherins all school year.

They enjoyed the last feast of the year and then got a compartment on the train together. Before they knew it they had arrived at King's Cross Station. Harry was surprised to see his uncle waiting for him, although he was making a point to not look at any of the witches and wizards around him.

When he exited the train he was approached by both Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Malfoy. Both witches told Harry to contact them about visiting over the summer and Mrs. Malfoy reminded Harry that he was always welcome at Malfoy Manor if he needed to get away from his relatives. As she said this her eyes went to Vernon Dursley and for a moment she looked like she might just grab Harry and refuse to allow him to leave with his uncle. Harry almost wished that she did. 

Harry and his friends promised to write and then Harry was dragged away by his uncle. But Harry had some hope for the summer. Afterall, his family didn’t know that he wasn’t allowed to use magic outside of school.

 


End file.
